Group Therapy Techniques in Shamanistic Medicine

Abstract

The indigenous medical therapists of the Western Dakota (Sioux) offer a wide spectrum of medical advices and procedures. One group
of these, the "nightsing" ceremonials of the yuwipi medicine men, have a structure and function comparable to modern group
psychotherapy. Identifiable features in the nightsing" experience are careful selection of patients and problems, a meticulously-wrought
therapeutic contract, extensive preparations, a prolonged group meeting under extraordinary conditions of attention, a recognized difference between the conscious and unconscious expectations of the therapist and the client, and an aftergroup facilitating reliving, review, and the integration of the process and the interpretations. Ethnographic studies suggest that the procedure has roots in remote
antiquity, predating even classical methods in the treatment of patients in groups