Spirit Mediumship and Mental Health: Therapeutic Self-transformation Among Dang-kis in Singapore.
Boon-Ooi Lee, Laurence J. Kirmayer
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry June 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s11013-021-09765-y (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 8 |
| Population | Dang-ki spirit mediums from five temples in Singapore |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Embodiment Possession trance Spirit mediumship Spirit possession |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key findings | Most dang-ki mediums did not suffer from clinically significant emotional distress, and their narratives suggest that involvement in mediumship may have therapeutic effects through changes in self and bodily experience. |
Abstract
While some early studies suggested that spirit mediums were psychiatrically ill individuals who found a culturally sanctioned role, subsequent work has found that they are generally in good physical and mental health. While the calling to be a healer often involves an initiatory illness, practitioners go on to play demanding social roles, suggesting that involvement in mediumship may be therapeutic for the practitioner. This study focuses on dang-ki healing, a form of Chinese spirit mediumship practiced in Singapore to explore whether participation in dang-ki healing is therapeutic for the mediums. We interviewed eight dang-kis from five temples about their life trajectories and assessed their mental health status with standardized psychological questionnaires. Most of the dang-kis did not appear to suffer from clinically significant emotional distress. Their narratives suggest that involvement in dang-ki mediumship may have therapeutic effects in which the embodied experience of self plays a central role. The dang-kis experienced changes in social identity, bodily experiences during spirit possession, and their overall sense of self through recurrent possession rituals. In general, the practice of spirit mediumship illustrates how the experiences and meanings of the self are constructed and reconstructed through body-world relations in ways that may confer a sense of wellness and social efficacy.
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
Cited by 2
Cites 12
- The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition Oxford University Press eBooks September 13, 2018
- Dang-Ki healing: An embodied relational healing practice in Singapore. Transcultural Psychiatry December 1, 2020
- Transformation in Dang-ki Healing: The Embodied Self and Perceived Legitimacy. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry September 1, 2016
- The Spirit’s Wish: Possession Trance and Female Power among the Punu of Congo-Brazzaville Journal of Religion in Africa 2011
- "He Who Has the Spirits Must Work a Lot": A Psycho-Anthropological Account of Spirit Possession in the Dominican Republic. Ethos December 1, 2018
and 7 more in the library