... every civilized culture in history has discriminated against  its abnormal members. ‘Schizophrenia’ is a civlized Western term, and so are ‘witch’ and ‘misfit’ – terms used to rationalize the cruel and unusual punishments doled out to extraordinary people. Yet the American Indian tribes …  treated their freaks as special beings. Their schizoids were recognized as having a gift, the power of visions, and were revered for it

From Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, By Tom Robbins.