The Psychology of Bewitchment (Part I)

A Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Bewitchment

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11011902
AutoresGavin Ivey (0000-0002-5537-3504, University of the Witwatersrand, autor correspondente), Tertia Myers (University of the Witwatersrand)
Ano2008
Volume38
Fascículo1
Páginas54-74
Data de publicação2008-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSouth African Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0081-2463 • E-ISSN: 2078-208X
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/008124630803800104
OpenAlexW2008319178
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas11

The first of two articles on bewitchment reports the findings of a qualitative study based on interviews with a small sample of individuals who believed they had been bewitched. A phenomenological analysis of the data provided a descriptive account of the psychic reality of bewitchment. Those understanding their experience in this way attribute misfortune to the malicious intentions and actions of hated others, who are believed to employ supernatural means to harm their ‘victims’, with real symptomatic consequences. This supernatural interpretive framework relies on a discursive network of witchcraft-related gossip, media reports, folklore, and diagnostic confirmation by traditional healers. Bewitchment beliefs arise within a context of hostile and envious familial and social relations. Despite the distress accompanying the experience of bewitchment, this supernatural understanding was found to offer participants a meaningful explanation for negative life events, especially during times of transition. Muti featured prominently in accounts of ways in which bewitchment is effected and provides the grounds for the experience of being poisoned or possessed by an evil entity. Treatment of bewitchment symptoms by sangomas and spiritual leaders is considered to be superior to that offered by Western medicine

Context (archaeology) · Distress · Epistemology · Folklore · Gossip · Harm · Interpretative phenomenological analysis · Literature · Misfortune · Narrative · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Trickster · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology