What if a psychological crisis were seen as a positive transformative experience? Contrary to Western views, traditional Indigenous cultures accept non-ordinary states of consciousness and allow “psychotic” symptoms to be seen as an indicator of shamanic potential. Interviews with renowned mental health professionals Gabor Mate, Robert Whitaker and Roshi Joan Halifax explore the severity of the North American mental health crisis dominated by biomedical psychiatry, and add to the growing movement of professionals and psychiatric survivors who demand alternative treatments that focus on recovery through rituals, nurturing social contact and finding meaning in deep connections to nature and one another.