Skip to content

A Cultural Pathway to Addressing Contemporary Mental Illness: Construction and Healing Logic of the “Virtual Illness” Concept in Shamanism in the North of China

Xiaoshuang Liu

Religions April 1, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/rel17040431 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Population Shamans in northern China
Intervention spiritual healing
Topics Buddhism Shamanism
Keywords Indigenous Individuation Mental illness Mental health China Mental distress Psychotherapist Coping psychology Possession linguistics Intervention counseling
Key findings Shamanic healing of possession-type 'virtual illness' in northern China attributes mental distress to external spirits and uses spiritual healing to foster a positive psychological state, offering a culturally specific response to mental illness in the context of modern individuation.

Abstract

Mental illness has become increasingly prominent in the modern individuation process in China. Correspondingly, contemporary shamanic practices in the north of China have gradually focused on mental issues and have constructed an indigenous concept related to them: “virtual illness.” Based on many years of fieldwork conducted in the shamanic regions of the north of China, this study focuses on the healing practices of local shamans. By integrating theoretical resources on the “self” from sociology and shamanic studies, it explores the cultural practices and therapeutic logic formed by local shamans around the concept of “virtual illness” in addressing contemporary socio-psychological anxiety. Studies indicate that within the shamanic conceptual system of this region, prolonged mental distress is prone to possession by external malevolent spirits, thereby becoming a form of virtual illness. The healing process of possession-type “virtual illness” reflects the regional shamanic approach to explanation and intervention within a framework of a holistic self. This is manifested by attributing misfortune, such as failure and mental illness, to the possessed spiritual identity and conducting spiritual healing on the possessed spiritual identity, while encouraging individuals to maintain a positive and forward-looking state. Together, these actions build a positive psychological foundation for coping with mental illness, providing a unique response pathway to the mental illness triggered by the “individualized self.” Cultural healing practices in the north of China for mental illness not only adapt to the modern Chinese medical system and social context, but also offer a targeted cultural healing perspective for understanding mental illness phenomena in China’s individuation process, thereby promoting philosophical reflection on the concept of the “self.”

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
"Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... 2011 Qualitative study n = 36
Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... 2019 Ethnography with literature review n = 227
The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru 2016 Ethnography
Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin 1992 Ethnographic review and analysis
Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru 2012 Ethnography

Citations in the library

Cites 6

and 1 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Buddhism Shamanism Anxiety