Psychoanalysis, Shamanism and Cultural Phenomena*

At face value, patterns of illness and systems of healing are so varied from a cross-cultural perspective that an anthropological cookbook tour would only add tidbits of esoteric interest. Nevertheless, the widespread appearance of shamanism suggests that its curative form is addressed to widespread, if not universal, conditions. Like that of all healers, the shaman's work reflects the culturally approved means of attempting to restore impaired individuals to full capacity so that they can perform their social roles. Since society has a considerable stake in seeing that vital social functions are performed, it is not surprising that in the course of cultural evolution one of the first attempts to assign individuals specific social roles involved the religious specialist. At simpler levels of social organization, the healing arts were part of the religious system. The healer was selected on the basis of his supernatural powers and the success of his magical techniques. Despite the great differences between modern medicine and formal religion, parallels drawn between shaman or other native healers and modern treatment have been common, and these comparisons provide insights in understanding a common thread through time and enormous cultural development. I will confine my remarks to anthropological rather than clinical interpretations in searching for both commonalities and points of departure between primitive and modern forms of healing.

When one turns specifically to anthropology's views of shamanism and its relevance to psychoanalysis, one finds two quite differing approaches, one of which searches for universals while the