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Psychosis is episodically required for the enduring integrity of shamanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Joseph Polimeni
Joseph Polimeni*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. JPolimeni@shaw.cahttp://umanitoba.ca/healthsciences/medicine/units/psychiatry/
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Abstract

The target article advances several original concepts about shamanism, including prospective explanations for how shamanism could express itself in different cultural settings. Although the potential for “innate psychological tendencies” is acknowledged, the target article prematurely dismisses one such hard-wired feature of shamanism: psychosis.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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