What Western psychotherapists can learn from witchdoctors.

Western psychotherapists have been remarkably ethnocentric in their view of themselves. They have failed to learn from their counterparts in other cultures, the witchdoctors. This paper reviews some of the things they can learn, namely the importance of 1) the Principle of Rumpelstiltskin, 2) the personal qualities of the therapist, 3) the patients' expectations, and 4) the techniques of therapy. It is concluded that we have much to learn from witchdoctors.