Bonds of time and space

Divination and the psychiatric encounter

Bibliographic Data

ID4004485
AuthorsEmmi Baum (0000-0003-0856-1921, Department of History University of California Irvine California USA, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume57
Issue3
Pages273-280
Publication date2021-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jhbs.22099
PMID34159614
OpenAlexW3174032397
LanguageEN
References cited19

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

Art · Astrology · Context (archaeology) · Divination · Ideology · Literature · MAGIC (telescope) · Mental health · Mental healthcare · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Shamanism · Sociology · Superstition · Classics · Empathy and Medical Education · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · History · Law · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology

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