PART I. FUNDAMENTALS OF MOHAVE PSYCHIATRY 



ETIOLOGICAL THEORIES 



The Mohave do not possess a general etiological theory of mental 

 diseases, presumably because each shaman seeks to make his own 

 specialty the cornerstone of Mohave medicine. This tendency is clearly 

 revealed by the attempt of Hikye : t — a shaman also reputed to be a 

 witch — to bring mental disorders within the scope of his own spe- 

 cialty, which was "internal medicine." His account of the "founda- 

 tions of psychiatry" is, in its own way, as grotesque as are certain 

 modern attempts to bring even the functional neuroses entirely within 

 the scope of neurology, or even of internal medicine. In fact, it 

 is quite probable that Hikye : t's account sounds confusing not only 

 because this suspicious witch may have wished to confuse me, but 

 chiefly because he tried to force the neuroses and psychoses into the 

 Procrustean pattern of Mohave organic medicine. 



Be that as it may, my efforts to integrate the etiological views of 

 my various informants into a coherent whole having ended in a signal 

 failure, I asked Ahma Huma : re to discuss the matter in my presence 

 with the old blind shaman Hilyera Anyay and with Tcatc. I 

 pointed out that since neither of these two was a witch, differences of 

 opinion would not invite magical retaliation, and also promised that 

 I would not invite to the conference such known witches as Hikye : t 

 or Kwathany Hi:wa, who might bewitch him. In response to my 

 request, Ahma Huma:re embarked upon a long, agitated, and ram- 

 bling monolog, in broken English, whose gist was not always clear 

 to me. In the course of this monolog he mentioned the late Hivsu : 

 Tupo : ma, as well as the alleged witch Hikye : t, and once more enumer- 

 ated various diseases. Then, speaking quite calmly once more, he 

 stated that he did not object to the proposed conference. 



If you were asking something about those people's suma : tc (dream powers), 

 I could not attend the meeting. But since we are supposed to talk only about 

 insane people, that is different. Your late friend Hivsu: Tupo:ma could tell 

 you things about his power, but he could not have done so in my presence (since 

 I, too, am a shaman). However, when it comes to insanity caused by illness, 

 what I already told you about that topic it is probably just what the others will 

 say, since it is simply a matter of telling you what we ourselves have seen.* 



' Extraneous circumstances unfortunately prevented me from arranging such a discussion. 



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