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Bonds of time and space: Divination and the psychiatric encounter
Author(s) -
Baum Emily
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.22099
Subject(s) - divination , shamanism , superstition , ideology , magic (telescope) , politics , context (archaeology) , mental health , astrology , mental healthcare , sociology , psychology , psychoanalysis , psychiatry , history , political science , law , literature , classics , art , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
This essay examines the intersections between divination and psychiatry in the context of modern Chinese history. Throughout the 20th century, subsequent political regimes attempted to drive an ontological wedge between psychiatry, which was deemed scientific, and divination, which was deemed superstitious. While the dichotomy between science and superstition remains a powerful ideology today, it belies the use of divination as a psychotherapeutic tool. Occult practices such as fortune telling and shamanism complement the application of technical psychiatric skills by serving a crucial moral and interpersonal function, one that has important implications for the practice of mental healthcare both within and beyond Asia.