A Psychology of Indigenous Healing in Southern Africa

Converging lines of evidence from various scientific disciplines consistently point to humanity's African roots. In this context, the term “indigenous healing” is used to refer to universal forms of healing that began in Africa and were developed further both locally and internationally. This article examines the notion of a psychology of indigenous healing and suggests that investigations continually reveal essential structures and practices of a perennial psychology underlying modern scientific, academic and professional forms of this discipline. Examination of such structures and practices illuminates an original psychological theme in Southern African indigenous healing involving recognition of Spirit as Source of Self that extends into transpersonal realms. Related themes include ancestral consciousness, familial and communal spirituality, healers and specializations, illness prevention, health promotion and various forms of empathy. The need for future in depth research into such psychological themes and issues is identified and explicated.     

Holistic Psychology: A Brief Primer

This article explicates the foundations, essential themes and healing principles of holistic psychology; an approach which provides a corrective for such trends in modern scientific psychology as disciplinary perspectives, the overemphasis on the economics and politics of professionalism. Holistic psychology emphasizes spiritual healing, multi-cultural counseling, community and ecological interventions. Its core pillars of practice and care stem from the spiritual and wisdom traditions widely applicable to combating illness, injustice, violence, materialism, and technocratic influences so prevalent in contemporary society. As a breath and/or spirit based healing practice, holistic psychology provides a foundational exercise for personal, social and cosmic transformation.     

Intuition as a Healing Modality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

This article examines intuition as an archetypal, cultural-spiritual healing modality. It builds on the notion of intuition as a reality founded on the archetypal calling to become a healer. Consideration is given to a variety of intuition traditions as well as contemporary understandings of intuition based on natural scientific evidence. Intuition needs to be understood within the context of practice for appropriate use.     

Women Healers: Global and Local Women’s Knowledge in Psychology—An Introduction

ABSTRACT

This article briefly addresses key events throughout recorded history of indigenous healing, highlighting the role of women and their work despite predominant patriarchal, societal views and subsequent hardships for women engaging in healing roles. Additionally, this article identifies terms and definitions that will be used throughout the special issue and introduces articles for the special issue which have been written by women around the world. The editors invite readers to question Western dominant discourse about healing, and, in particular, indigenous healing by women.     

Integrating Divine Attachment Theory and the Enneagram to Help Clients of Abuse Heal in Their Images of Self,Others, and God

For victims of childhood abuse, healing their unconscious images of themselves, others, and God is of utmost importance in therapeutic work. Addressing the healing from both a scientific and a spiritual-contemplative approach is ideal in the context of spiritually integrated psychotherapy. Combining the frameworks of divine attachment theory and the Enneagram can help abused clients on their journey towards holistic healing in a way that addresses both the scientific and soulful dimensions of their deep unconscious wounds. This integration has the potential to heal multiple aspects of wounding, including unconscious images of clients, their offenders, and God. It also has the potential to dignify clients by showing how their unique God-given personality has a finite correspondence to God’s very own infinite personality and by outlining potential points of existential connection between aspects of their personality traits and the personality traits of the eternal God. Finally, clients can also grow in empathy and compassion for their abusers, which will help in the process of forgiveness.     

Indigenous Healing Practices in Malawi

One of the most important areas of African culture in which the significant presence of traditional beliefs can be seen is through sickness and healing. In many traditional cultures, illness is thought to be caused by psychological conflicts or disturbed social relations that create a disequilibrium expressed in the form of physical or mental problems. In Malawi, traditional healing has been practised for centuries even before colonialisation. It is said that about 80 per cent of the population utilise traditional healers and medicine for their health needs. This paper sets out several of the issues and controversies that surround traditional healing and medicine in Malawi. An overview of the traditional Malawian theory of illness, the diversity of healing practices for somatic and psychosocial disorders, the socio-cultural context of healing and cultural interpretations of disease and intervention are provided. The problem of efficacy and scientific validation of traditional medicine is discussed.     

Art and Healing for Native American Indians

This article discusses elements of the Native American Indian healing process and the significance of the arts in therapy. Until recently, most traditional healing practices were illegal in the United States. It is now imperative that counselors and educators of all ethnic backgrounds become aware of the role of the arts in Native healing. Implications for counselors and educators are highlighted.     

Mark Graves <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mind,Brain and the Elusive Soul: Human Systems of Cognitive Science and Religion</Emphasis>

This article explores the use of Graves’ theory of the soul as an interdisciplinary tool to facilitate a holistic approach to healing. Graves’ discussion is applied to the use of therapeutic interventions to facilitate the emergent processes of healing and spiritual growth in traumatized persons.     

Jung's Breath-Body and African Spiritual Healing

Psychology essentially refers to the study and use (logos) of the breath, soul or spirit of life (psyche) that leaves a person at death and continues in some other form. From such a fundamental perspective, all forms of ancient and modern caring, helping and healing have their foundations in breath-based behaviour, experiences and spirituality. This article examines Jung's image of the breath-body or spirit-body in relation to various spiritual healing traditions with special focus on their source in African spiritual healing.     

Face It Head On

SUMMARY

This article focuses on key clinical ideas to help couples face directly the painful issues brought about by infidelity. The author discusses key relational processes related to infidelity along with desired outcomes. The emphasis is on helping couples change key relational dynamics that facilitate the healing process. Couples are encouraged to engage in the healing process head on, and not avoid or skirt around the issues. The article illustrates these desired changes by means of a case Study.     

Notions of Healing and Transcendence in the Trajectory of African Traditional Religion: Paradigm and Strategies

This paper examines the import of transcendence in illnesses and misfortunes as well as the place of healing in African traditional religion. The belief in medicine among Africans is the art of using available forces of nature to prevent disease and to restore and preserve health. It occupies a prominent position in the religious lives of African people. This article draws attention to the practice of several healing activities in African traditional religion in its attempts to restore health, exploring the indigenization of health care procedures and the role and function of God in African medicine and healing. This work shows that the concept of God is central in African religion and plays a prominent role in its healing ministry. The paper concludes with a suggestion about what could constitute a collective synergy for Western orthodox and African traditional medicine.     

Filipino psychic surgery: Myth,magic, or miracle

This essay considers the current impact and evaluation of Far Eastern psychic healing typified by the psychic surgery of the Philippine Islands. On the basis of a literature survey as well as interviews with persons who had visited the healers and received psychic surgery, an analysis of the spiritual dynamics and physical effects is reported. An attempt is made to balance the positive reports of those who were healed with the more objective and/or skeptical reports of religious and scientific leaders. Cultural, psychological, medical, and magical aspects are considered. An expansion of philosophic outlook coupled with a search for new tools of investigation is suggested.This paper is the result of an exploration of various healing modalities by the authors.     

Use of Ifá as a Means of Addressing Mental Health Concerns Among African American Clients

African Americans underuse counseling services because of factors such as cultural mistrust, stigma, and culturally incongruent treatment interventions. As a result, this population relies on informal healing networks. The foundations of these networks have been outlined within the professional literature. However, limited attention has been given to the indigenous healing methods used by African Americans in lieu of counseling. This article explores the conceptual, diagnostic, and treatment strategies of the indigenous healing system, Yorùbá‐based Ifá.     

Reflexive Communities: The Non-Western Church as Healing Community

Many non-Western Christian communities have experienced terrible human rights violations at the hands of fellow citizens, civil authorities, or rebel groups, Christian or otherwise. This article presents a brief and practical model of healing that attempts to remain consistent with the general characteristics of non-Western social realities. It suggests that rather than relying on the paucity of professional therapies offered in those contexts, non-Western churches themselves can become harbingers of healing for the traumatized community. By blending social theory with biblical narratives, this article proffers an example of how healing can take place within sociocentric communities.     

Counselling as a culture of healing

While clearly upholding the value of the helping professions, this article presents an analysis of alleged shortcomings of present forms of counselling and therapy. Arguments are presented for a New Look in counselling. Counselling, it is claimed, would benefit from redefinition as a culture of healing. It should be conceptualised as a cultural practice rather than as a scientific undertaking. Drawing on new intellectual resources would help re-align counselling epistemologically and practically in order to achieve sensibility in the face of social and historical transformations which have taken place in the second half of this century and which continue radically to alter both social life and our ways of understanding social life.     

Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh” and Christian Mission to People with Disabilities

This article attempts a holistic theological analysis of what the mission of the church to people living with disabilities (PLWDs) should be. The article pays attention to Paul’s reference to a “thorn in his flesh” using the theory of complex embodiment. It counters the emphasis in some churches on healing as the proper response to the needs of PLWDs. Rather, the article seek to present a theology that gives PLWDs greater knowledge of and control over their bodies to live meaningful lives even with their disabilities. The article argues that Paul lived with a disability and that although he sought to have it healed, he later accepted it and lived fully and meaningfully with it. It concludes that, from the example of Paul, the church’s mission to PLWDs should not necessarily be the healing of disabilities but their empowerment and integration in our societies.     

Healing in the Midst of Chaos: Nah We Yone's African Women's Wellness Group

This article discusses the creative use of the group treatment modality to provide psychosocial support to African women refugees and asylum seekers with a history of refugee trauma, war, and human rights abuses who have fled to the United States. In particular, this article describes the African Women's Wellness Group developed by Nah We Yone, Inc., a small grassroots organization in the New York City area. This women's group draws on the tenets of traditional Western group psychotherapy while using African cultural awareness to provide healing. The rationale for this type of treatment, group design, specific techniques used to provide healing, along with various group-related themes and challenges are described. This type of treatment provides an example of the usefulness of group therapy technique with traumatized displaced women struggling to survive in a new cultural setting.     

The minister as healer,the healer as minister

A major task of the minister is that of healer, and with the healing task come some special opportunities. These relate to the therapy of the word, awakening in all the tragic sense of life, an identity with the wounded healer, distinguishing between healing and curing, and accepting the medical education enterprise as a patient. The healer as minister broadens the healing community into a priesthood of all believers. Further, our rich heritage of healing is anchored in the biblical tradition, and a study of this will show a similarity between ancient and modern healing.This article is based on a paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Ministers in Medical Education of the Society for Health and Human Values, Washington, D.C., October 23–26, 1980.     

Culture as a resource for mental health

This article is based on the author's address at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit III in Los Angeles, California, in January 2003. The author focuses on culture as a resource--a resource for theories that can inform one's understanding of human behavior; a resource for healing, self-help, and positive emotions; a resource for clinical practice; and a resource for mental health and wellness. The author uses a healing story from native culture to describe the essence of his relational worldview and to reframe the professional thinking about culture as one of the greatest assets for healing and mental wellness rather than as a problem to solve.