Comparisons of the Shamans and Pseudoshamans of the Apaches of the Mescalero Indian Reservation: A Rorschach Study

Apahe Age Groups

“…These records revealed summarily, 1) significant perceptual and cognitive differences between the Mescaleros, consistent with the field observations, and 2) suggested that the Mescaleros were more secure in their personal identities and were more capable of establishing meaningful object relationships than the Chiricahuas, whose reactions to the stimuli offered by the Rorschach cards were more like those expected from whites (Boyer, Klopfer, Boyer, Brawer, and Kawai, 1964). The former group seem to have retained their aboriginal mentational processes and values, whereas the latter group more nearly resemble whites in their modes of thinking and their value orientations.…”

“…He was judged to be suffering from an hysterical personality disorder with attributes of the impostor (Boyer,19Sl), an evaluation which was later confirmed by the projective test material (Klopfer & Boyer, 1961). The Rorschach protocols of the 12 living accredited shamans and 7 of the perhaps 15 pseudoshamans were evaluated and revealed close concordance of the hypotheses and the test material (Boyer, Klopfer, Brawer & Kawai, 1964) . The Rorschach protocols of the 12 living accredited shamans and 7 of the perhaps 15 pseudoshamans were evaluated and revealed close concordance of the hypotheses and the test material (Boyer, Klopfer, Brawer & Kawai, 1964) .…”

Psychological Anthropology

“…Finally the vexing question recurs: When and to what degree are shamans psychiatrically disturbed ? 125 The question calls for a careful, theoretically informed review as well as for more fieldwork while opportunities to study shamans remain.…”

A Critical Overview of the Psychiatric Approaches to Shamanism

“…Seen in this light, ritual possession takes on aspects of a ritual of salvation since it allows a latently ill person to establish some kind of mental balance through the adoption of several personalities. Other authors, such as Ackerknecht (1943), Nadel (1965), Gillin (1948), Boyer (1961-1962-1964, and Sasaki (1969),4 tend to see the shaman as a neurotic rather than as a psychotic personality; he is believed to be suffering for the most part from hysteria (proof of this is his ability to control his dissociated state, i.e., the trance); also, he plays an important role in his society and is distinguished from the rest of those designated as &dquo;insane.&dquo; Silverman (1967), basing his ideas on a distinction between two forms of schizophrenia -an idea first introduced by Chapman and Baxter (1963), who distinguished between &dquo;process&dquo; schizophrenia, which is long, evolving, ever worsening, and manifests itself quite early in life; and &dquo;reactional&dquo; schizophrenia, which involves excellent adaptability to the group and appears suddenly although late in life, with a rapid resolution -believes the shaman to be a paranoid schizophrenic. According to this author, shamanism is a process of incomplete resolution although it does offer a &dquo;solution&dquo; to the extent that the problem is allowed to follow its course in a supportive atmosphere and results in the reintegration of the individual personality in society.…”