A Comparison of Traditional Folk Healing Concepts With Contemporary Healing Concepts

Abstract

Health professional interest in folk healing concepts as a means of complementing contemporary health care has flourished within recent years. Yet, despite this seemingly new area of study, many basic tenets of folk healing are consistent with principles ascribed to by modern health professionals. In this article, I elucidate several concepts shared by traditional folk healing systems and the contemporary health care system. These concepts include origin of illness, harmony and balance, motion, colors, symbols, and family and community involvement. The analysis of these concepts should enable nurses to have an advanced understanding of transcultural healing practices, as well as a heightened perspective on the shared dimensions of folk and contemporary health care systems.

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Chinese Individuals Living with Cancer in British Columbia

“…Experts in the field of ethno-medicine and transcultural nursing advocate paying attention to the health beliefs of ethnocultural groups to improve care and health outcomes for ethnocultural patients (Berger, 1998;Chen, 1999;Clark, 1995;Spector, 1995;Wing, 1998). "Empowering ethnocultural communities through informal care may be the most culturally appropriate approach for improving the health status of ethnocultural populations.…”

Exploring Indigenous Mental Health Practices: The Roles of Healers and Helpers in Promoting Well‐Being in People of Color

“…Human behavior and its consequences are viewed in a circular and interconnected context, and indigenous helping models are often predicated on the notion that the effects of some type of distress may be multidimensional or may stem from multiple sources. Consequently, indigenous forms of healing typically take holistic and interdependent approaches to well-being (Grills & Rowe, 1998; D. W. Sue & Sue, 1999;Wing, 1998). There is the belief in many non-Western cultures that all life forms are interrelated.…”

“…Different cultural groups have developed their own explanations and conceptualizations of abnormality, mental health, and well-being, in addition to having identified culture-bound ways of coping with problems (Lee & Armstrong, 1995;Myers, 1999b). For example, the prevailing belief in some cultures is that the etiology of problems or illnesses could stem from phenomena such as imbalances in the homeostasis of various forces, obstructions in the flow of energies within the body, disobedience of natural laws, and malevolent spirits (e.g., Campinha-Bacote, 1992;Lin, Inui, Kleinman, & Womack, 1982;Uba, 1992;Wing, 1998;Wing & Thompson, 1995). Thus, what may be viewed as normal or abnormal phenomena in one culture may differ greatly from the same phenomena in other cultures.…”

“…Consequently, indigenous forms of healing typically take holistic and interdependent approaches to well-being (Grills & Rowe, 1998;D. W. Sue & Sue, 1999;Wing, 1998). There is the belief in many non-Western cultures that all life forms are interrelated.…”

Revisiting Psychotherapeutic Practices in Karnataka, India: Lessons from Indigenous Healing Methods

“…This stress on their therapeutic nature is reflected in many facets of Indian culture, including its myriad of gods and goddesses and the profusion of myths and legends that surround them. Several studies emphasize the need to understand folk healing (set of beliefs that has a shared social dimension, it is what people do when they are ill, as compared with what they should do as determined by a set of social standards (Wing, 1998). The discourse analytic study by Yen & Wilbraham (2003) looked at conversations among psychiatrists, psychologists and indigenous healers, with regard to culture and illness, as they discussed possibilities for collaboration in South African mental health care.…”