“This excellent book offers the reader a diversity of views to help them form their own opinion about the feasibility of such partnerships . . . this text is enlightening as to the development of guidelines for the treatment and management of a controversial condition, which presents a challenge to psychiatrists and society as a whole.” (British Journal of Psychiatry, October 2010)
“The fact that the book tries to start to address the topic, mapping it, is already a remarkable feat. The book may well be one of the first ones addressing a topic that will have to become widely discussed very soon in order to provide a satisfactory answer to the contemporary health world demands.” (Metapsychology, January 2010)
“What is so important about this volume is that it is written by psychiatrists for psychiatrists, with the imprimatur of the World Psychiatric Association.” (PsycCRITIQUES, April 2010)
Up to 85 percent of the world’s population relies on traditional healers and medicines to meet their health care needs. In Uganda, for example, the ratio of traditional healers to population is 1:200, contrasting dramatically with biomedically trained health professionals, for which the ratio is 1:20,000. In the Andes of South America, there are no psychiatric or mental health services available to the Indigenous Peoples who therefore depend entirely on traditional healers, family and community support to cope with their mental health problems and to relieve their psychological distress.
Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers focuses on the significant contribution of traditional healers to the wellbeing of most of the world’s population, and considers the role of these unwitting partners in global mental health.
• This book presents original research data, clinical experiences, case vignettes, and pilot psychiatric collaborative programs between traditional healers and psychiatrists in countries around the world
• All chapters highlight, in various ways, the unanticipated and often unrecognized contributions of traditional healers and traditional psychiatric knowledge to global mental health
• Features a Foreword by Dr Goffredo Bartocci, President-elect of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry
Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health makes fascinating reading for clinicians, researchers, community mental health practitioners, educators, and mental health policy makers, as well those interested in cultural psychiatry and the role of traditional healers in mental health.
From the Back Cover
Up to 85 percent of the world’s population relies on traditional healers and medicines to meet their health care needs. In Uganda, for example, the ratio of traditional healers to population is 1:200, contrasting dramatically with biomedically trained health professionals, for which the ratio is 1:20,000. In the Andes of South America, there are no psychiatric or mental health services available to the Indigenous Peoples who therefore depend entirely on traditional healers, family and community support to cope with their mental health problems and to relieve their psychological distress.
Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers focuses on the significant contribution of traditional healers to the wellbeing of most of the world’s population, and considers the role of these unwitting partners in global mental health.
- This book presents original research data, clinical experiences, case vignettes, and pilot psychiatric collaborative programs between traditional healers and psychiatrists in countries around the world
- All chapters highlight, in various ways, the unanticipated and often unrecognized contributions of traditional healers and traditional psychiatric knowledge to global mental health
- Features a Foreword by Dr Goffredo Bartocci, President-elect of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry
Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health makes fascinating reading for clinicians, researchers, community mental health practitioners, educators, and mental health policy makers, as well those interested in cultural psychiatry and the role of traditional healers in mental health.
About the Author
Mario Incayawar, recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 2006, is Director of ‘Runajambi’ – Institute for the Study of Quichua Culture and Health.
Ron Wintrob is President of the WPA Section on Transcultural Psychiatry.
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