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.
Sinc e v ery little is known a bout how blac k a nd ethnic m inority patients represent a nd present their subjec tiv e distress, a nd consequently less still is known a bout how psyc hotherapists interpret these com m unica tions, resea rch into this a rea is v ita l. In exa m ining this idea , this pa per discusses notions of illness representa tion a nd presenta tion genera lly w ith pa rticula r referenc e to blac k a nd ethnic minority pa tients. It a rgues tha t in a scribing univ ersal m eanings of distress, a thera pist m a y neglec t the netw ork of m ea nings tha t a n illness ha s for a pa rticula r sufferer in a pa rtic ula r c ulture. Thera pists who conta in their sea rc h to the m ulti( ple) cultura l thera pies a nd the v a ria bles of ra c e a nd ethnic ity m a y ® nd them selv es being lim ited in their repertoire of interpreta tions of indiv idua l's illness. It is a rgued tha t these v a ria bles a re c ontested, a m biguous a nd ideologic a lly ba sed sites, a nd a re therefore problem a tic in psychothera py. The pa per a rgues tha t through loca ting a lterna te epistem ologies, resea rch into understa nding how bla ck a nd ethnic m inority pa tients c onceptua lize a nd express their distress ca n better develop the theory, pra c tic e a nd resea rc h of psyc hothera py w ith these groups.
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