Episode
Phil Borges, Shamans, Schizophrenia, and CRAZYWISE
- Podcast
- Dream Chasers and Eccentrics
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3841
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics-6589317/episodes/phil-borges-shamans-schizophrenia-and-crazywise/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics-6589317/phil-borges-shamans-schizophrenia-and-crazywise.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Phil Borges is a photographer and flimmaker dedicated to documenting the lives of indigenous cultures, and their shamans in particular. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and his award winning books, which have been published in four languages, include Tibetan Portrait , Enduring Spirit , Women Empowered and Tibet: Culture on the Edge. He has hosted television documentaries on indigenous cultures for Discovery and National Geographic channels. Phil also lectures and teaches internationally. During his work, he noticed similarities between shamans and the people we label as mentally ill - specifically schizophrenic or bipolar. His documentary Crazywise dives into this subject and focuses on two individuals in America who suffer from psychotic episodes and how they tried to deal with their mental difficulties. CRAZYWISE explores the relevance of Shamanic traditional practices and beliefs to those of us living in the modern world. CRAZYWISE centers around a young man struggling with his sanity, world renowned mental health professionals, and a gutsy survivor-led movement...all challenging a mental health system in crisis. In this interview, we talk about growing up in the Haight-Ashbury, becoming an orthodontist, interviewing hippies on the street, becoming a photographer/interviewer, becoming a professional photographer, documenting tribal cultures, Tibet, watching the Dahlai Lama's kuten go into trance and channel an oracle, an interview with the kuten discussing how he got the job, things shamans have in common, schizophrenia, ego disolution, psychadelic experiences and the neuroscience behind them, what happens when our identity anchors are taken away, near-death experiences, our view of reality, making the film CRAZYWISE, Vipassana, pharmaceutic…