Soul loss

The prevailing concept in traditional shamanism is "any illness is a consequence of a lost or stolen soul.[2][3][4] The Khanty and Mansi had the idea that a person had five souls.[5]

In Core shamanism, which has absorbed, among other things, the "psychological base", it is believed that any trauma can lead to loss of soul, and the more intense the traumatic shock, the more serious the extent of soul loss, coma is given as an example of almost complete soul loss, death - complete. Besides shamans, this phenomenon is of interest to anthropologists, transpersonal psychologists such as Stanislav Grof, Arnold Mindell and others.

The main explanation of the mechanism of soul loss is that in order to preserve oneself in an intolerable situation, part of the soul leaves, as continuing to be in these conditions is so uncomfortable that it can lead to complete disintegration.[6] In addition, this mechanism is similar to the mechanism of displacement, actively used in psychology and psychotherapy to explain and work with unconscious "forgotten" parts of life experiences.

In some cultures saying God bless you after sneezing is believed to help prevent soul loss[7]

Sandra Ingerman, in her book Return of the Soul, identifies the following symptoms of soul loss:[8]

• Dissociation
• Chronic illnesses
• Depression
• Multiple personality syndrome
• Chemical dependency
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Difficulty making decisions
• Feeling numb
• Apathy
• Chronic bad luck
• Memory lapses

Some people believe that the soul can be returned with the help of shaman, that he goes to his helper spirits[9] and/or teachers with a request to help in the return of the soul, negotiates with the part of the soul found, asks about the reasons for its departure, finds out the conditions under which the soul will be willing to return, with the claim that the shaman shifts the vast majority of the work of returning the soul to other entities. In preparation for the return of the soul, the shaman may preliminarily produce the return of an animal power.[10]