Psychic retreats in other places: Clients who seek healing with traditional healers and psychotherapists1

1. Acknowledgements: This study, which is part of a larger study, was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard Research Grant (410-06-1726) awarded to the first author. A version of this paper was published in Counselling and Spirituality Journal, Vol. 28(1), Spring 2009. Our thanks to the editors: Terry Lynn Gall and Pierrette Daviau for granting us permission to republish the article.

Abstract

Since the beginning of time, people have been using a range of healing practices to resolve health and mental health concerns. Among these are the traditional healing practices which appear to be growing among immigrant communities in the West, for example, Yoga, Ayurveda, Astrology, Voodoo, Santeria; and, the newer forms, viz., Maat, Morita therapy, Naikan therapy, and many others. These indigenous healing methods seem to address some of the many shortcomings of conventional health care and are practiced in conjunction with, and at times in the place of, modern Western forms. It seems that including two different health care modalities is possible since competing and contradictory cures can be held alongside each other without creating conflict in the client. This paper discusses traditional and cultural healers and healing in non-Western countries and those practices that are engaged with in the diaspora. The paper also considers the use of traditional healing alongside Western counselling and psychotherapy–dual interventions. Finally, the paper explores several strategies that counsellors could undertake when working with ethnic minority clients, particularly those clients who also enter into dual relationships with traditional healers.

Keywords:

• traditional healers
• counseling and psychotherapy
• dual interventions
• psychic retreats
• immigrant communities
• mental health

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

Notes

1. Acknowledgements: This study, which is part of a larger study, was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard Research Grant (410-06-1726) awarded to the first author. A version of this paper was published in Counselling and Spirituality Journal, Vol. 28(1), Spring 2009. Our thanks to the editors: Terry Lynn Gall and Pierrette Daviau for granting us permission to republish the article.

2. Zar cults are found in Ethiopia and Sudan or Rab cult found in Senegal are processes of folk or social therapy (Asuni, 1986). During these group therapy dances patients tend to be spiritually elevated. The sessions can last for a duration of 3–7 days or in multiples of seven, up to 3 months depending on the established ritual practices and the severity of the illness (Awanbar, 1982).

3. Marabouts are places occupied by a saint (living or dead) where people request help through the process of spiritual meditation. During the process of Islamization some of these shrines were destroyed (Moodley & West, 2005).

4. The teachings of the Medicine Wheel and Pimaatisiwin Circle are used by traditional Aboriginal people to help maintain or restore life to balance and harmony. Good life or good health is perceived to be a balance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements (Poonwassie & Charter, 2005).

5. Spiritism is based on a belief in reincarnation and the use of mediums who mediate healing through a process which stresses the concept of spiritual “fluids”, around the body (Hohmann et al., 1990).

6. Vaidya is a traditional Hindu healer using Ayurvedic medicine. Also see Philip Rack's Race, Culture and Mental Disorder (Rack, 1982, pp. 181–192, for a discussion on traditional healing). Ineichen suggests that patients “may side-step conventional medical services and prefer to approach Hakims or other alternative healers” (Ineichen, 1990, p. 1670).

7. See Lago and Thompson (1996) for a discussion on Sufism, gourd dancing and Sioux sun dancing.

8. Shamanism–the word Shaman comes from a Northern Siberian tribe, the Tungus. Shamanic practitioners are known by different names in different parts of the world. A Muslim healer is called a Pir or Sayana, and a Hindu healer may be known as Baba, Ojha, or Tantric healer. Shamans regard themselves as conduits between the supernatural and the patient, and, through the processes of “possession”, and “exorcism” therapy is conducted (Kumar, Bhugra & Singh, 2005).

9. Ayurveda is a healing system of India, dating back to 1500BC, as described in the classical texts of Susruta and Caraka (200–400 BC). As part of the Vedic sciences which include yoga, meditation and astrology, Ayurveda is the branch that deals with the physical body, and its treatment includes herbal medicine, body work, surgery, psychology, and spirituality (Frawley, 1989).

10. Sahaja–therapy signifies the “innate nature” that a person is born with. It is closer to humanistic psychology with an emphasis on the social and environmental aspects of a person's wellbeing (Kumar, Bhugra, & Singh, 2005).

11. Siddha–medicine. A system of healing, dating back to 5000 BC, originated in Southern India. Similar to Ayurveda, treatment is directed at restoring balance and equilibrium of the three humors (vattam, pittam, and kapham). Treatment is individualized to meet each patient's needs (Kumar, Bhugra, & Singh, 2005).

12. Lambo is regarded as the “father of modern psychotherapy in Africa” (Awanbar, 1982, p. 211).

13. The traditional healing practices in the Caribbean have their origins in the Yoruba tribe of West Africa. They developed on islands where African slaves were indoctrinated into Roman Catholicism. Initially, enslaved Africans had to adapt to the religious customs and practices of other enslaved Africans from different African cultures, and soon after, they had to adapt to the religion of their masters. This complex process of encounters, adaptations, assimilation, and syncretism is often referred to as creolization and these healing traditions are often referred to as Creole religions (Fernández-Olmos, 2003).

14. “For the African, the religious-magical system is a great poem, allegorical of human experience, wise in its portrayal of the world and its creature” (Awanbar, 1982, p.168). These truths may be more salient than scientific truths because they represent solutions to personal human problems (Dow, 1986).

15. Radical empathy is a concept defined by Koss-Chioino (2006) as a process which takes empathic behaviour to a further degree in that a wounded healer actually enters the feelings of suffering and distress of a client as well as those who attend the healing sessions. The healer experiences the feelings as they are felt by the sufferer via the communication of spirit visions and/or spirit possessions.