Distress, dissociation, and embodied experience: Reconsidering the pathways to mediumship and mental health

Rebecca Seligman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article explores the biocultural bases of spirit possession mediumship in the Afro-Brazilian religion, Candomblé. After a brief review of the literature, the article moves beyond the biomedical and social-structural explanations that have dominated the theoretical landscape, by attempting to construct an etiology of mediumship that is traced through the interface of individual characteristics with the cultural belief system that forms their context. Data were collected from a total of 71 individuals over the course of a year-long field study in Salvador, Brazil. Analyses of social ethnography, life history and semistructured interviews along with results from psychological inventories, suggest that altered states of consciousness should not be considered the central and defining element of mediumship. An alternative model is proposed, in which the combination of social conditions and somatic susceptibilities causes certain individuals to identify with the mediumship role, and predisposes them to dissociate. However in the context of Candomblé, dissociation is not a pathological experience, but rather a therapeutic mechanism, learned through religious participation, that benefits individuals with a strong tendency to somatize.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)71-99
Number of pages29
JournalEthos
Volume33
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2005

Keywords

  • Brazil
  • Dissociation
  • Embodiment
  • Mental health
  • Spirit possession

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Anthropology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Sociology and Political Science

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