The shamanic view of mental illness

[SignOfLazarus]

This whole conversation is not only really quite interesting for me but probably personally helpful.

Just to pull the thread somewhat back on track it might be worth looking at the core ideology behind many shamanic systems.

1. The inner landscape of the mind is regarded as being as powerful as the external world. This is a concept that has been picked up by various fields of science, the realisation that everything we perceive occurs in the black chamber of the skull. You do not see through your eyes, for example. The electrical impulses are decoded deep within the brain where a 'model' of what the brain believes to be there is created.


Yes, we can argue that the external world is 'real' in every sense, but it is a theory, not a fact. Some mental disorders cause the patient to perceive their surroundings in a manner that is at a tangent with those around them. One could argue that the person is correct and everyone else is wrong, but, the definition of sanity rests upon a 'social agreement'. That is, if there are six people in the room and one of them sees something that the rest do not then that person is not acting sane. So, sanity is a concensus.

Reading this here made me grin.
Sanity is such a weird concept if you think about it.
We look at what we consider our "experiences"- they are anything we have perceived as real and internalized at the time. So if, for example, I talk about a period of delusion or consistent sensory hallucination that lasts for several weeks and I come out of it- how real was that? I have known a lot of people who come into this huge personal crisis after this kind of experience, not because of the actual experience necesarily, but because of the insistance of everyone around them that the period of their reality created by their mind "wasn't real" so... they should simply forget it. Any tragedy, joy, anger, personal triumph, failure, insight... all of that is supposed to suddenly be discounted because it was not entirely based on "the reality we all share and agree upon". It's traumatizing.
But, as you say Harrison- these things are actually real. In various situations when our minds are the origin, other parts of our brain will still respond as if the stimuli is coming from an external source. We still react as if it is "real"- why discount that? [/end tangent] :]

Regarding who makes a decision about what is sane or not, in trying to figure out how best to communicate with people who might not at the time be sharing my current reality, I realize that that is actually pretty much always the case. Even if there is nothing neurologically/psychologically/psychiatrically atypical about anyone involved: "...for example, in a situation between two people there are at least three sides to the story- and they can all be legitimate. " -My perspective, your perspective, what "actually" happened. That's the minimum.

On top of this pile we carry a set of alternative versions of ourselves. The primary is the anima/animus which constitutes the biological opposite of what we are in life. So mine is a female. There are also aspects such as the Shadow which is made up of aspects we choose to not show the world.

There has been some interesting work done on the Shadowself in relation to serial killers and the fact that many of them present a very 'pleasant' and untroubled face to the world. Here it is posited that they bury their rage within the Shadow until it reaches critical mass and overwhelms the outer personality.

I'm not saying for one instance that every mental disorder can be framed in this way, there are far too many factors to consider. However, there is evidence to support further research into both identifying cause and enabling a resolution.

In these times of science is it possible to manipulate these archetypes through medication?

I have a great interest in the idea of resilience and those who are diagnosed ["properly" and consistently] with mental disorders that are supposed to have poorer prognoses. In my experience [which in this case is anything but professional but is pretty broad haha] there tends to be a subset of individuals that have a knack for masking their symptoms amazingly well, or locking them at least... until they can break down. It requires insight, resilience and... willingness I guess to push off the desire to give in and break down. Your mention of Shadowself makes me think of this. It can't only pertain to serial killers or those who bottle up rage- from that point of view anyway.

I've not thought to look into that but it seems to make sense.
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I'm trying to think of some of these other posts [particularly some of what wyverary mentioned] and how to answer them without straying any further from the topic at hand and it's a bit difficult. I think I need a break anyway

 

[SignOfLazarus]

Mr. Somé was right when he said a lot of our so-called mentally ill weren't being given proper treatment.

And yes. Absolutely right.