Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 1994
R J Castillo
68 citations
Psychoanalytic theory's concepts of universal oedipal conflict and repression are flawed for studying pathological spirit possession in South Asia. Biological psychiatry is also inadequate because mental illnesses are shaped by culture-bound categories of experience. Dissociation theory provides a more suitable framework for this research. The article reviews the history of paradigm shifts in psychiatric theory relevant to spirit possession.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
December 1, 2022
Daniel R George, Ryan Hanson, Darryl Wilkinson et al.
65 citations
An international ban on psychedelics in 1971 restricted clinical use of these ancient substances, but structured psychedelic use—long part of ritual healing—is regaining credibility in Western medicine for treating mental health conditions amid rising 'Deaths of Despair' (excess mortality from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism). Using a historical lens, the authors examine psychedelic therapies over time, translate ancient lessons to contemporary practice, and interrogate practical and ethical questions for mainstream medicine. Reflecting on COVID-19's contributions to global mental health burden, they argue that a 'psychedelic renaissance' anchored in antiquity could shift healthcare toward more humane practices attentive to underlying causes of distress and supportive of human flourishing.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 1994
R J Castillo
55 citations
Psychoanalytic theory has been misapplied in anthropological studies of spirit possession in South Asia. Pathological spirit possession in that region may share an etiology with multiple personality disorder in North America, both arising from spontaneous trance reactions to extreme environmental situations, especially child abuse. Reanalyses of previously published case histories of spirit possession illnesses in South Asia, viewed through dissociation theory, reveal possible causes that earlier psychoanalytic frameworks overlooked.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 1979
P J Claus
45 citations
Spirit possession in a region of southern India is best understood within its broad cultural context rather than as solely a psychological or sociological event. The author critically reviews previous explanations and draws on local spirit possession and mediumship cults, oral traditions, and social ideology to provide an ethnographically relevant interpretation. The argument emphasizes that possession practices are embedded in regional beliefs and social structures, offering a more holistic understanding than earlier reductionist approaches.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 2019
Samuele Collu
39 citations
Affect theory has been criticized in anthropology for focusing on what seems to escape language, but this article argues that understanding therapeutic efficacy requires attending to affects, not just language and discourse. Drawing on ethnography of couple's therapy in Argentina, the author suggests regarding affects as late modern spirits and psychotherapy as a ritual of affect dispossession. A therapy session in Buenos Aires shows how a therapist channels the spirit of impasse that colonizes patients' lives. The article develops an enchanted hermeneutics, engaging imagination as an organ of perception in medical anthropology of affects, and responds to Eve Sedgwick's call for an other-than-paranoid social theory.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 2016
Boon-Ooi Lee
39 citations
Spirit possession in mediumship and shamanism, once mistaken for culturally sanctioned psychopathology, can be therapeutic. A case study of dang-ki healing, a Chinese mediumship practice in Singapore, examined whether involvement transforms the medium. Interviews with a male dang-ki, ten temple assistants, and nine clients revealed that the medium's self-transformation is linked to the perceived legitimacy of his possession. Recognized as genuinely possessed by a deity with healing power, he uses mediumship for spiritual growth, internalizing the god's positive traits such as compassion. Deities represent ideal selves embodying Chinese cultural values, so possession embodies an ideal self. The medium's transformation parallels the god's own spiritual development, even for deities.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 1990
L A Sharp
39 citations
In northwest Madagascar, young adolescent schoolgirls in Ambanja commonly experience possession by Njarinintsy spirits, a volatile and dangerous class of spirits that is a relatively recent phenomenon compared to older tromba spirits. These girls are essentially young migrants who have moved alone to town to attend school. Their possession reflects the conflicts and contradictions of shifting from rural to town life and from youth to adulthood, compounded by educational policy issues. Possession offers these girls a way to express the chaos of their fragmented daily lives.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 2011
Angela Nickerson, Devon E Hinton
38 citations
Anger is common among Cambodian refugees, often triggered by marital discord and leading to verbal and physical violence and sometimes suicidality. Buddhist monks in Massachusetts identify Buddhist-based anger management strategies, including education about Buddhist doctrines, mindfulness meditation, and the use of herbal medication and holy water, as useful interventions. These approaches are discussed in relation to Buddhist beliefs and Western psychological treatments.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 2016
Yvonne Schaffler, Etzel Cardeña, Sophie Reijman et al.
30 citations
Vodou practitioners in the Dominican Republic who experience spirit possession report greater somatoform dissociation, more sleep problems, and more past exposure to mortal danger (assaults, accidents, or diseases) than those who do not experience possession. The two groups did not differ significantly in other types of trauma. Somatoform dissociation was the strongest predictor of group membership, though these symptoms may partly reflect the possession experience itself. A factor analysis yielded three factors: early responsibility and professional spiritual role; traumatic events and pain; and distress/dissociation. Overall, possessed individuals did not have a remarkably more severe trauma history and appeared to derive economic benefits from possession practice.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 1991
V Skultans
27 citations
Spirit possession in a Mahanubhav healing temple in Maharashtra is understood differently by different inhabitants, with interpretations of trance and affliction varying by gender, family structure, and position within the family. One form of affliction is considered madness, but the experience of mental illness differs markedly: the number of family members accompanying the afflicted person, money spent on treatment, length of treatment, and the degree of empathy and concern all depend on the patient's gender and status. Women's inferior social position and precarious belonging in their husband's family become especially apparent in cases of mental illness.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 2020
Devon E Hinton, Ria Reis, Joop De Jong
17 citations
Among Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic, ghost encounters are a central part of how trauma is experienced and expressed. Fifty-four percent of patients had been bothered by ghost encounters in the past month. The severity of being bothered by ghosts was strongly correlated with PTSD severity. Among those bothered by ghosts, 85.2% had PTSD, compared to 15.4% of those not bothered, an odds ratio of 31.8. Ghost visitations occurred in three states of consciousness: during full sleep (dreams), hypnagogia (sleep paralysis or hallucinations while falling asleep or waking), and full waking (hallucinations, visual aura, chills, or leg cramps).
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 2023
Robert Colbert, Shannon Hughes
16 citations
Adult couples who use MDMA privately within committed relationships describe it as a tool for conscious exploration and relational bonding, not as a dangerous street drug or purely a medical treatment. Eight couples reported making deliberate decisions about use, preparing together physically and emotionally, and experiencing improved communication, intimate bonding, and durable relationship benefits they likened to a 'tune up.' They also acknowledged difficult experiences. This small, homogenous sample cannot be generalized, and the proportion of non-problematic adult users among the total MDMA-using population remains unknown.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 2022
M A Subandi, Lu'Luatul Chizanah, S Subhan
15 citations
At Pesantren Tetirah Dhikr (PTD), an Islamic-Sufi rehabilitation center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God) is the essential therapeutic component for improving mental health among people with mental illness and drug addiction. Therapy follows a three-stage process of soul purification in Sufism: takhalli (cleansing the soul of blameworthy traits), tahalli (adorning the soul with virtuous qualities), and tajalli (attaining a pure soul). From a transpersonal psychology perspective, dhikr's effects are comparable to the therapeutic benefits of meditation and other psychotherapies. This faith-based approach offers an alternative treatment where professional mental health facilities are limited.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 1988
K Safa
13 citations
On the southern coasts of Iran, people who experience spirit possession distinguish their possessing spirits, called 'Winds,' using culturally and psychologically meaningful categories. These categories shape relationships among the spirits, the possessed, ritual specialists, possession symptoms, and negotiations during exorcism rituals. The paper analyzes from a semiotic perspective how both the spirit and the host are transformed in what the People of the Air consider therapy. It identifies areas needing further research.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
September 1, 2024
Ntombifuthi P Ngubane, Brenda Z De Gama
12 citations
Mental illness is culturally understood as caused by witchcraft or an ancestral calling, according to traditional health practitioners in the Harry Gwala District Municipality. Diagnosis relies on spiritual intervention, including divination through consulting ancestors, examining family background, burning incense, and examining the patient. Common symptoms observed are aggression, hallucination, and unresponsiveness. Treatment involves medicinal concoctions and cultural rituals that address ancestral and spiritual influences, with the treatment duration guided by ancestors. Cultural beliefs and ancestors shape most aspects of mental illness, from perceived cause through diagnosis to treatment.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 2017
Taewoo Kim
11 citations
Diagnostic virtuosity in East Asian medicine arises when a practitioner's body cultivates a medically-tinged intentionality that interconnects consciousness with medically significant qualities in patients. The East Asian notion of "Image" maximizes the body's perceptual capacity and minimizes reduction by linguistic re-presentation, enabling practitioners to somatically conceptualize core notions like Yin-Yang and use them as an embodied litmus during clinical encounters. This process develops through apprenticeship, where novices organize perceptual experience through numerous clinical transactions. The article provides an example of knowing and caring practices institutionalized outside the culture of science, challenging reductionist frameworks that congeal existential and perceptual vitality within scientific explanatory models.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
December 1, 2024
Lambros Malafouris, Frank Röhricht
8 citations
Philosophers and embodied mind theorists increasingly agree that understanding mental illness requires looking beyond the brain to the surrounding ecology. This paper argues that adopting Material Engagement Theory (MET) can reshape debates about mental disorders and improve treatment. Using schizophrenia and dementia as examples, the authors examine how material objects, habits, practices, and environments influence memory, self-awareness, embodiment, and temporality—phenomena shared across these conditions. Studying socio-material relations reveals the semiotic significance and agency of specific materials, environments, and technical mediations. The approach offers unrealized potential for creating new treatments that broaden, challenge, or complement existing interventions and care practices.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 2023
José Carlos Bouso, Genís Ona, Maja Kohek et al.
8 citations
Hallucinations are not exclusively tied to psychopathology; they also occur in healthy individuals and, in certain contexts such as those induced by hallucinogenic drugs, can improve mental health. Historical, epidemiological, and scientific evidence suggests hallucinations are a common phenomenon that can be functional and beneficial. The authors argue that hallucinations can provide a privileged route to understanding the mind and the world, a shift that could impact drug policy, civil law, psychiatry, and reduce stigma around mental disorders.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 2023
Boon-Ooi Lee, Laurence J. Kirmayer
7 citations
Most dang-ki spirit mediums in Singapore do not show clinically significant emotional distress, contradicting early claims that mediums are psychiatrically ill. Interviews with eight mediums from five temples, along with standardized psychological questionnaires, indicate that involvement in dang-ki healing may be therapeutic. The mediums reported changes in social identity, bodily experiences during possession, and overall sense of self through repeated rituals. The practice illustrates how selfhood is constructed through body-world relations, potentially conferring wellness and social efficacy.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
December 1, 2015
Dimitrios Chartonas, Ruma Bose
7 citations
Migration and acculturation processes can deeply affect children's mental health, especially when non-Western idioms of distress, such as spirit possession, are misunderstood. The case of an 8-year-old girl who immigrated to a Western multicultural environment illustrates how disorganized behavior, culturally accepted as spirit possession, emerged from migration trauma, acculturative stress, and a new sibling transition. Cultural conflict at school and bullying were key mediators. The authors argue that spirit possession deserves more attention as a culture-specific response to trauma, and that clinicians should adopt an anti-reductionist stance, integrating different explanatory frameworks and healing practices to bridge cultural divides.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
March 1, 2022
China Scherz, George Mpanga, Sarah Namirembe
4 citations
In Uganda, alcohol addiction is often understood not as a chronic brain disease but as control by an external spirit. Pentecostals and spirit mediums both see addiction as possession by an outside being, but they disagree on whether that spirit is evil or morally neutral and on how to address it. Based on four years of ethnographic fieldwork, the article argues that these local concepts of bondage and possession, though severe, offer pathways to recovery that differ from the biomedical model of addiction as a relapsing disease.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
June 1, 2025
Dylan T Lott
2 citations
Advances in end-of-life technologies challenge conventional ideas of personhood, identity, and ethics, often forcing these concepts into rigid, binary categories. In response, some in the West have looked to Tibetan Buddhist practices surrounding death. This article introduces the term "thanato-technics" to describe how technologies are used to explore or speculate about the inner experiences of the dead and dying, focusing on research involving the postmortem bodies of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners in India. The concept highlights the temporalities—imagined or real—that such technologies evoke and invest in.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
May 21, 2025
Tenzin Namdul
1 citation
Tibetan Buddhist practitioners believe that meditating on death is key to well-being in daily life. Based on an 18-month ethnographic study, this article explores how the concept of tukdam—a meditative state entered while dying that involves resting in extremely subtle consciousness—informs Tibetan communities beyond just accomplished adepts, framing how death and dying are conceived. The article asks why Tibetans see death meditation as central to day-to-day happiness and how the temporality of meditated death relates to ordinary life. It proposes that practices culminating in tukdam symbolize an 'ideal' death that guides approaches to dying for oneself and others, offering a moral heuristic for transforming orientations to self and others and cultivating compassion and resilience.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
December 1, 2023
Ippolytos Kalofonos
1 citation
Attending to the meaning within psychosis, grounded in a person's subjective-lived experience and social world, is essential for developing empathy and therapeutic rapport. A Latina Veteran's narratives of psychosis must be contextualized in her past and ongoing experiences of racism, social hierarchy, and violence. Engaging with her narratives in this way pushes towards a social etiology that conceptualizes psychosis as a complex response to life experience, and in her case, a critical embodiment of intersectional oppression.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry
May 27, 2026
Obafemi Jegede
Global mental health initiatives often replace indigenous diagnostic categories like the Yorùbá term wèrè with neuropsychiatric frameworks, but this paper argues that such replacement constitutes epistemic violence. Based on twenty years of ethnographic research with traditional healers in southwestern Nigeria, the author shows that wèrè (meaning 'weave misery') diagnoses not individual brain dysfunction but a unraveling of interconnections across bodily, environmental, ancestral, and spiritual domains. Yorùbá language grammatically locates cognitive processes beyond the brain—fear in the chest, happiness in the stomach, focus in the liver—while recognizing environmental agents like rivers and trees as cognitive beings requiring ritual attention. Therapeutic protocols address ecological-cosmological fields where disequilibrium occurs. Global mental health must recognize ontological pluralism: multiple valid healing sciences operating in incommensurable realities.