Mystiker och nåjder utan språk och gemenskap : En jämförelse mellan psykos och den samiske nåjdens kallelse

Sammanfattning: The similarities between psychosis and different mystical experiences are striking. Professor Jens-Ivar Nergård (1998, 2006) has pointed out similarities between the calling of the Sami shaman/nåjd and the state of psychosis and high-lights the reciprocal meanings andpurposes of these similarities in a Saami context where the calling and the called are regarded as meaningful for the community. By comparing what psychodynamic theorynames psychosis with the calling process of the nåjd the aim of this work is to investigatethe question of how the latter’s discourse finds individual and contextual purpose andmeaning in the psychological functions leading to the former. Since this comparison andinvestigation concerns two different ontologies and discourses, with their own conceptsand views on the psychological functions mentioned, it is done in a qualitative comparativemethod of discourse analysis.The psychodynamic discourse through the books of professor Johan Cullberg classifiespsychosis as a psychological regression to a more primitive psychological state in whichthe individual is caught in primary process thoughts; characterized by dilutions, hallucinations and magical thinking. The psychodynamic discourse sees no contextual, and verylittle individual, meaning or purpose with these functions. This theory is what I will compare to the material given by primarily Jens-Ivar Nergård from a Saami discourse.What I find in the discourse material is an ontology - simultaneously psychological, spiritual, practical and religious (hence the interest from the perspective of psychology of religion) – which differs from the ontology of the psychodynamic discourse in crucial ways.In the Saami discourse the individual experiencing what the theory would name hallucinations, dilutions or psychosis is never disconnected from his or her community and contextbut is instead seen as an important and strong bringer of insights and knowledge. This isconnected to the ontology mentioned above in which relating to - seeing, hearing and interacting with - non-human persons is viewed as a natural experience to understand andrelate to nature, the community, the past and present. The psychological functions in which these interactions take place are regarded as meaningful, significant and sacred.