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This article is replete with dramatic data regarding shamanistic development and activity in the Siberian aboriginal culture. The author hypothesizes that the
shaman's early development is characterized by conditions of severe maternal deprivation, leading to intense unresolved conflicts of an oral-sadistic nature with a capacity for catastrophic regressions. During puberty and early adolescence, schizoid and hysterical symptoms develop in these children. Some of them remain mentally ill all their lives, but a few succeed in going through a terrifying regression out of which they may emerge as shaman. This regressive initiation is an actual repetition and mastery of the early trauma, with symbolic representations of the archaic part-object representations and phallic cannibalistic mother images. Through an intricate process of incorporations, introjection, identification, and, finally, mastery of the dangerous part-objects, including the fantasy of total annihilation of one's body and its subsequent restoration, the future shaman acquires the power over the "bad spirits" of damage and illness. He emerges triumphant from the battle for his own mental balance and provides a crucial element for sustenance of the mental health of the community.