Psychotherapy and shamanism each do things the other cannot, and they work best together. Being firmly rooted in ordinary reality is an essential prerequisite for journeying safely for ourselves, and before soul retrievalSoul retrieval. Finding an exiled soul-part and inviting it home. In the modern psyche the fort-holder who sent it away must consent first, and the retrieval itself is a beginning: the real work is integration. Read the full answer there is usually a more psychotherapy-like process of listening to the protective part of us that may not yet want change.
Is one better than the other? #
The idea that shamanism is better than psychotherapy is a common one in the shamanic community. “It is a wonky thought, and one that leads to people not getting the kind of help they really need”. These days both have things to contribute: “Neither is a good substitute for the other. Rather, they complement and enhance each other, and each has much that it can learn from the other.”1
In over thirty years as a therapist, Paul Francis has worked with thousands of people, including many spiritual people, some of them deeply spiritual. “All of them have needed good psychotherapy too. Just like everyone else.”2
See Why does Therapeutic Shamanism bring shamanism and psychotherapy together?
What needs to be in place before journeying for ourselves? #
Journeying for ourselves “can often be of great help and benefit if you suffer with things like depression, anxiety, addictions, procrastination, low self-esteem etc., as long as you still have a reasonably good grip on this ordinary reality too.” But for anyone prone to things such as schizophrenic episodes, paranoid fantasies, moderate to severe dissociation, or unstable and unmanaged manic-depression, “journeying for yourself could make matters worse.”
Even then, shamanism may still be of great help, with an experienced practitioner journeying for the person, ideally one with some understanding of mental health. Being firmly rooted and anchored in ordinary reality is “an essential prerequisite for being able to journey safely for oneself.”3
See Is shamanic work safe if I have a mental health condition? and How is shamanic journeying different from psychosis?
Why does some therapeutic work usually come before soul retrieval? #
The reason is the fort-holderFort-holder. A protective part of the self that stayed behind to ‘man the fort’ when we were wounded: the inner critic, perfectionist, pusher, pleaser: the loyal soldier still fighting a war that ended long ago. Usually the part that sent an orphan away, so no deep healing holds without its consent; befriended, never extracted. Read the full answer, the part of us that developed in childhood to protect us and is still running much of our everyday life, often without our knowing. Because of it, “the old method of simply bringing the soul partSoul-part. A small-s, middle-world part of the self that can be lost (sent away) and can be retrieved. Not the capital-S Soul. Read the full answer back is far less likely to work these days. It certainly can do, if the person really is fully ready to have the part back.” With most people Paul has worked with, though, there is an ambivalence about having the soul part back, one they are usually not consciously aware of.
“No deep or permanent change happens without the fort-holder’s consent.” So, “because of the presence of the fort-holder, for soul retrieval to be fully effective and long-lasting these days, there is usually a process of negotiating with the fort-holder that needs to happen first.”4
See What are child, orphan, fort-holder and protector parts?
Why is shamanism still essential here? #
The soul retrieval itself “can generally not be done by psychotherapy alone. … Soul retrieval is a specialism of shamanism. It is one of the things that shamanism is brilliant at doing.” The process of identifying the fort-holder, listening to it and reassuring it, is “more a psychotherapy-like approach than traditional shamanism”, and this negotiation can happen much more quickly when shamanism is brought in as well. Bringing psychotherapy and shamanism together in this way works far more effectively than practising either one on its own.5
The Adulthood talk describes a difference in what each reaches. The traits that humanistic and depth psychotherapies describe in people who have truly done the work closely match descriptions of healthy hunter-gatherer adults. “The only major difference is that therapy doesn’t usually reconnect us with the other-than-human world.”
Who decides when someone is ready? #
The pace is the person’s own. Paul’s experience as a therapist has taught him that people “have to face particular issues at their own pace, and in their own time.” Even when part of us wants to change, there is often another part that is fearful and resistant to it.6
A good practitioner helps with this. Ideally a practitioner will have some understanding of mental health, “and will tell you if they think shamanic work isn’t right for you, or isn’t right for you yet.” Shamanism can also almost always safely be used alongside medical treatment.7
