Concepts of illness etiology in a traditional medical system: analysis of philosophy of Aruh and healing ritual as ethnomedicine

Abstract

The process of recovering from a disease can vary among ethnic groups, culminating in distinct medical systems. Indonesia, an archipelagic country with over a thousand ethnicities, requires extensive research on ethnomedicine. A critical aspect of this research is illness etiology, which plays a crucial role in understanding the concept of prevention, therapy, and treatment developed by these ethnic groups. An adequate understanding of illness etiology will facilitate formulating a powerful, superior traditional medical system and provide practical benefits to assist local community health efforts. Therefore, this research aims to describe illness etiology by analyzing the philosophy of life: aruh and healing ritual according to the ethnomedicine of the Dayak Paramasan in Meratus Mountains. The method used was ethnography, which involved two traditional healing practitioners. Based on the results, illness were caused by behavior that was not aruh (disharmonious) with the environment. The types of illness include alamiah (physiological), perbuatan (psychosocial), and kapuhunan (socio-cultural). Meanwhile, illness therapy with ritual aims to return the aruh (harmonious, intimate, and peaceful) living conditions between the soul of the sufferer and the natural environment.