Ortley, John2021-10-082021-10-082007-05-31https://hdl.handle.net/1808/32078Thesis (M.A.)--University of Kansas, Indigenous Nations Studies, 2007.My Master's thesis is an examination of the way in which anomalous behaviors commonly associated with indigenous shaman-healers might be associated with mental illness by western psychiatry. This out-dated western ethnocentric ideology is currently active as a diagnostic entry 3.8 Shamanic Crisis within the American Psychiatric Association's, 1994 Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV. The general cross-cultural descriptions of mental illness by mental health professionals in charge of the DSM-IV, have allowed such diagnoses to remain haphazardly confirmed by a western medical model, based on a non-universal, Euro-centric theories and definitions of disease. That lack of cross-cultural consideration within the Indian Health Service (IHS) has to change in order to provide quality professional care. My intent is to bolster a more cross-culturally sensitive view of these anomalous behaviors that does not fully support strict abnormal medical or physiological properties.This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.Social sciencesPsychologyThesisopenAccess