The Role of African American Folk Beliefs in the Modern Therapeutic Process

Abstract

In response to a need for more cultural competency in indigenous practices, this article examines folk beliefs and healing practices in African American culture from theoretical, clinical, and practical perspectives. Four empirically derived culture-specific factors-spirituality, ritual, power of words, and dreams-are presented as themes often embedded in African American clients' narratives.A clinical case example illustrates the use of narrative therapy as an approach in therapy with a depressed client who subscribes to a folk belief system. Finally, interview questions and suggestions are given concerning how to better incorporate African American folk beliefs and healing practices in counseling and psychotherapy.

“Let me Count the Ways:” Fostering Reasons for Living Among Low‐Income, Suicidal, African American Women

“…The unique predictive value of spiritual well‐being is consistent with our understanding of the role spirituality plays in African American women’s lives. One reason for the strong association between spiritual well‐being and reasons for living relates to the culturally specific role spirituality plays in the African American community, and particularly, the southern African American community (Parks, 2003). Historically, African Americans have relied on their spirituality to cope with hardships and adversity (Boyd‐Franklin, 2010), and spirituality is an important cultural value in the African American female community (Mattis, 2002).…”

The Role of Spirituality as a Mediator for Psychological Well-Being across Different Contexts

“…This study is a secondary data analysis of the FORT Project (Wissing, Pretorius, & Heyns, 2000-2003 conducted as part of a broader project to clarify and advance the study of psychological well-being. The study employed an a posteriori cross-sectional research design to collect data.…”

“…Spiritual distress results when life is not given meaning and is thus characterised by feelings of emptiness and despair (Frankl, 1959). Parks (2003) notes that spiritually based beliefs and practices provide strategies for finding solutions to life problems as well as peace of mind. Delgado (2005) conjectures that spiritually well individuals are capable of resolving the natural tension between that which is temporal and secular, and that which is transcendent by seeking to integrate the biological, social and psychological aspects of life.…”

“…Antonovsky (1979) argues that divine interaction, as an instance of spirituality, may affect well-being by deepening the sense of coherence (the core components of which are comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness). Spirituality has also been seen as a tool allowing for interpretation, disclosure, adaptation and innova tion to occur in people's lives (Dantley, 2005;Parks, 2003). Evidence for the role of spirituality in well-being is based, among others things, on the buffering hypothesis (Ellison, 1994;Pargament, 1997) which states that spirituality influences well-being by facilitating adjustment to stressful life events through its influence on cognitive appraisals of the event and the subsequent regulation of emotions.…”

Does transpersonal trust moderate the association between chronic conditions and general practitioner visits in the oldest old? Results of the AgeCoDe and AgeQualiDe study

“…This also makes sense, because older individuals suffering from various chronic illnesses scoring high in TPT might view their GP as a person of trust, with whom individuals felt they could speak relatively freely, and not just as a health provider. 19 However, when weighing the plausibility of both explanation approaches, we concluded that the explanation approach mentioned first (external LOC) appears more plausible to us.…”