Professional Ethics for the Shaman-Psychologist: Navigating Psychotherapeutic Discourse and Transpersonal Ontology

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2026-3/386-399

Authors

Keywords:

medical anthropology, professional ethics, neoshamanism, urban shamanism, healing

Abstract

The article examines the process of forming professional ethics among shamans-psychologists in the contemporary urban environment of European Russia. Based on qualitative research, including in-depth interviews, roundtable materials, and digital ethnography, the author analyzes how practitioners with a background in psychology who employ shamanic techniques construct their ethical code. The study demonstrates that the emerging ethics represent a complex hybrid construct, arising at the intersection of psychotherapeutic discourse and urban shamanism within a post-secular cultural context. The article explores the creative transformations of key principles such as “do no harm,” as well as the role of money, which is redefined into a symbolic tool for ritually concluding therapeutic relationships. It is concluded that the ethics of shamans-psychologists are a creatively reworked cultural construct, enabling the establishment of a unique professional niche through dual legitimation.

Author Biography

  • Dmitri Baranov, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

    Baranov, Dmitri S. — Ph.D. Student, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russia Federation). E-mail: bebych@gmail.com ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3283-4942

    For citation: Baranov, D. S. 2026. Professional Ethics for the Shaman-Psychologist: Navigating Psychotherapeutic Discourse and Transpersonal Ontology. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 3: 386–399.

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Published

21.09.2026

Issue

No. 3 (2026): Vestnik antropologii (Herald of Anthropology)

Section

Anthropological Mosaic: Young Scholars' Perspectives