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In shamanic practices, the attempt to treat or cure mental illness, or any illness, is a ritual. Rituals are vital to

the healing process in shamanic cultures. Andrew Solomon received this quote from a Rwandan explaining

the difference they observed in western verses indigenous healing; “We had a lot of trouble with western

mental health workers who came here immediately after the genocide and we had to ask some of them to

leave. They came and their practice did not involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better.

There was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again. There was no sense that everyone had

taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to

joy. There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that could actually

be cast out again. Instead they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit

around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave.”

A shamanic ritual involving fire and chanting.

Above all, this interaction that was

described was an act of cultural

unawareness. It is very common especially

during crisis, for westerners to encroach on

a community and provide care without

knowing or inquiring the best way to

provide this care. When dealing with mental

issues, it would be very important to be able to approach the situation in a way that the community is used to.

This relates to the way that the differences between these two practices can be seen primarily throughout

worldview. In the article The Shamanic View of the World, Christa MacKinnon identifies many of the

worldviews held by shamans that may not be held by all psychologists. These beliefs include but are not

limited to, “everything is made of vibrations/energy fields and is connected”, “there is a source” for

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