“Divination is [a] technique commonly used by therapists, especially in Africa, to impress their patients. Nigerian babalawos, for instance, do not take a history from their patients. Rather a patient whispers his problem to a handful of palm nuts; the babalawo then casts the nuts and from their position makes a diagnosis.

Other methods of divination include throwing “bones” (wooden blocks with markings), feeling the patient’s pulse, constant gazing at water, star-gazing, watching the flickering of an oil lamp, listening to the wind, and watching the trembling of the hands. It should be emphasized that these procedures, frequently ridiculed in Western descriptions . . . are methods used by the therapist to increase his reputation and, thus, increase the patient’s faith and expectations. Often the therapist is in possession of accessory information that allows him to make an accurate dianosis.”

—E. Fuller Torrey, The Mind Game: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists, 1972.