Great post. Nice to see the other side of this, as I spend a lot of time talking with people about the choice to percieve many forms of mental health challenges as gifts.

The idea of shamanism is essentially this: some people go into voluntary non-ordinary states. Some people go into involuntary non-ordinary states. If a person is overwhelmed and isn't coping then they can go mad. If they are able to navigate and learn how to turn these experience to their advantage or the the advantage of their community they are engaging in shamanism or mysticism.

You might not like the label, but the fact that you are finding your way through by applying powerful techniques like self forgeiveness, self acceptance and self love,means you're doing what people who practice shamanism do... you're learning to not be overwhelmed by these non-ordinary states.

Another key to the shamanic perspective on mental health is that labeling a psychological experience as sickness can have a direct influence on the outcome. Conversely, labelling a psychological experience as a gift can have a positive influence on the outcome.

You're right about african countries having very low rates of schizophrenia diagnosis. That's specifically because of the cultural beliefs around these experiences not being a sickness.

Whether you like the term or identify with it or not, I found this article to be one of the most helpful things i've read about mental health for quite a while.