Healings Research Articles

Reassessing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: What Happens if We Include the Impact of Traditional Healing on Mental Illness?

In this Fresh Focus, we reassess what the mental health treatment gap may mean if we consider the role of traditional healing. Based on systematic reviews, patients can use traditional healers and qualitatively report improvement from general psychological distress and symptom reduction for common mental disorders. Given these clinical implications, some high-income countries have scaled up research into traditional healing practices, while at the same time in low-and middle-income countries, where the use of traditional healers is nearly ubiquitous, considerably less research funding has studied or capitalized on this phenomena. The World Health Organization 2003-2020 Mental Health Action Plan called for government health programs to include traditional and faith healers as treatment resources to combat the low- and middle-income country treatment gap. Reflection on the work which emerged during the course of this Mental Health Action Plan revealed areas for improvement. As we embark on the next Mental Health Action Plan, we offer lessons-learned for exploring potential relationships and collaborations between traditional healing and biomedicine.

Capacity of antiretroviral therapy sites for managing NCDs in people living with HIV in Zimbabwe.

BackgroundThere are marked inconsistencies in prevalence data for human immunodeficiency virus and non-communicable disease (HIV-NCD) comorbidity in Zimbabwe.ObjectivesTo explain these discrepancies, we investigated the capacity of antiretroviral therapy (ART) sites in managing hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Gweru district, Zimbabwe.MethodThis was a qualitative research design in which key informant interviews were conducted with eight health managers, and 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 72 PLWH concurrently diagnosed with HTN and/or DM. Thematic data analysis was performed in NVivo version 12®.ResultsRoutine screening for HTN and targeted screening for DM were often interrupted by dysfunctional machines and intermittent supply of necessary consumables, impacting negatively on the capacity of the sites to monitor and screen for the NCDs. Erratic hypertensive and diabetic medication availability at study sites were also reported, forcing patients to turn to other treatment options (medication rationing or overdose or sharing, use of home remedies and traditional medicines, and reliance on faith and traditional healers).ConclusionFindings demonstrate that the quality of observed incidence and prevalence data for HTN and DM in LMICs is a function of the capacity of health centres to screen for NCDs. Given the ageing population of PLWH in sub-Saharan Africa, coupled with increasing trends in the prevalence of NCDs in HIV-infected people, HIV programmes have not evolved with the changing needs of PLWH. Attention to the holistic management of PLWH is long overdue.

A Liturgical Assessment of the Ministry of benzedeiras and benzedores in Brazil

In this article, I present a brief theological analysis of popular faith healing practices in Brazil widely known as benzeção, by analyzing how they evolved as a response to the absence of medical care in many remote areas of the country, but also as a consequence of a lack of necessary pastoral care for the sick and public liturgies of healing until the emergence of the Liturgical Movement. Finally, I propose some approaches through which such ministries can be incorporated as inculturated expressions of rites with the sick.

The Public Prayer Station: Taking Healing Prayer to the Streets and Evangelizing the Nones, by William L. De Arteaga

The Public Prayer Station: Taking Healing Prayer to the Streets and Evangelizing the Nones, by William L. De Arteaga

Religious Healing Experiences and Earned Security

This article focuses on religious healing experiences related to resources from Christian faith and practices and attachment theory. Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine informants. The results indicate that they perceived healing experiences as intense encounters with a loving, sensitive, external power with detailed insights into their burdens. The respondents interpreted the external power as the Christian God. They characterized these experiences as life-changing spurs to further healing processes. We suggest that these encounters can be understood as perceived experiences of God as an attachment-like figure. Earlier research on religious attachment showed that God is often approached as a safe haven in stressful times. Although there is less evidence implying that God is seen as a secure base or a starting point for new exploration, our respondents indicated that these experiences prompted new explorations of their lives, selves, others, and God. We discuss how healing experiences may provide a sense of earned security that changes insecure internal working models into more secure models and argue that this insight can be relevant in the field of pastoral care.

The healthcare seeking behaviour of adult patients with asthma at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, Zimbabwe

BackgroundAlthough asthma is a serious public health concern in Zimbabwe, there is lack of information regarding the decision to seek for healthcare services among patients. This study aimed to determine the health care seeking behaviour of adult patients with asthma attending Chitungwiza Central Hospital in Zimbabwe.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 patients with asthma. A questionnaire with four thematic areas (i) patients’ demographic characteristics, (ii) types of health seeking behaviours (iii) knowledge of asthma treatment and (iv) attitudes on asthma treatment was used.ResultsWe determined the sequence of remedial action that people undertake to rectify perceived ill health commonly referred to as health care seeking behaviours in 400 adult patients with asthma. This behaviour was considered good if the patient sought care at the hospital/clinic and or private practitioners. Poor health seeking behaviour was adjudged if patients sought no treatment, self-treated or resorted to traditional or faith healers for care.The majority 261(65.3%) of the study participants were females mainly between ages 29–39 years who lived in the urban setting. Distance to health facility, perception of supportive roles of healthcare providers, perceived good quality of service and knowledge of asthma complications were key determinants for health seeking behaviour. The results showed that majority 290 (72.5%) reported good health seeking behaviour. The correlates of good health seeking behaviour included financial capacity to pay for medical care [OR: 0.50 (CI: 0.31–0.83); p = 0.008)] and receiving good quality of asthma treatment [OR: 0.59 (CI: 0.37–0.93); p = 0.03)]. The inability to voluntarily seek own asthma treatment [OR: 1.68 (CI: 1.05–2.70); p = 0.03) was a significant risk factor (68% more likely) for poor health seeking behaviour.ConclusionsWe concluded that prior to scaling up asthma treatment programmes in Zimbabwe, there is need to address, individual-level, community-level and health service level barriers to health seeking among asthma patients.

Effect of collaborative care between traditional and faith healers and primary health-care workers on psychosis outcomes in Nigeria and Ghana (COSIMPO): a cluster randomised controlled trial

Traditional and faith healers (TFH) provide care to a large number of people with psychosis in many sub-Saharan African countries but they practise outside the formal mental health system. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a collaborative shared care model for psychosis delivered by TFH and primary health-care providers (PHCW). In this cluster-randomised trial in Kumasi, Ghana and Ibadan, Nigeria, we randomly allocated clusters (a primary care clinic and neighbouring TFH facilities) 1:1, stratified by size and country, to an intervention group or enhanced care as usual. The intervention included a manualised collaborative shared care delivered by trained TFH and PHCW. Eligible participants were adults (aged ≥18 years) newly admitted to TFH facilities with active psychotic symptoms (positive and negative syndrome scale [PANSS] score ≥60). The primary outcome, by masked assessments at 6 months, was the difference in psychotic symptom improvement as measured with the PANSS in patients in follow-up at 3 and 6 months. Patients exposure to harmful treatment practices, such as shackling, were also assessed at 3 and 6 months. Care costs were assessed at baseline, 3-month and 6-month follow-up, and for the entire 6 months of follow-up. This trial was registered with the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trial registry, NCT02895269. Between Sept 1, 2016, and May 3, 2017, 51 clusters were randomly allocated (26 intervention, 25 control) with 307 patients enrolled (166 [54%] in the intervention group and 141 [46%] in the control group). 190 (62%) of participants were men. Baseline mean PANSS score was 107·3 (SD 17·5) for the intervention group and 108·9 (18·3) for the control group. 286 (93%) completed the 6-month follow-up at which the mean total PANSS score for intervention group was 53·4 (19·9) compared with 67·6 (23·3) for the control group (adjusted mean difference -15·01 (95% CI -21·17 to -8·84; 0·0001). Harmful practices decreased from 94 (57%) of 166 patients at baseline to 13 (9%) of 152 at 6 months in the intervention group (-0·48 [-0·60 to -0·37] p<0·001) and from 59 (42%) of 141 patients to 13 (10%) of 134 in the control group (-0·33 [-0·45 to -0·21] p<0·001), with no significant difference between the two groups. Greater reductions in overall care costs were seen in the intervention group than in the control group. At the 6 month assessment, greater reductions in total health service and time costs were seen in the intervention group; however, cumulative costs over this period were higher (US $627 per patient vs $526 in the control group). Five patients in the intervention group had mild extrapyramidal side effects. A collaborative shared care delivered by TFH and conventional health-care providers for people with psychosis was effective and cost-effective. The model of care offers the prospect of scaling up improved care to this vulnerable population in settings with low resources. US National Institute of Mental Health.

The perils of ‘yo‐yo’ thinking: Positioning culture in Pentecostal healing

AbstractLike other Pentecostals, the Lelet of central New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, are urged to reject significant aspects of their cultural tradition in order to become born‐again Christians. Most Lelet Pentecostals say that all use of magic must be abandoned. I use the example of healing to show how commitments to break with the past are influenced by life’s exigencies, such as illness. Pragmatic responses to illness may see people move between forms of therapy that are considered mutually exclusive – that is, between Christian healing and magic. Some judge this wavering derisively as “yo‐yo” thinking. I suggest that a more subtle and open‐minded appreciation of the Pentecostal stress on breaking with the past is to see this as situational – that is, as necessarily influenced by contingencies. Despite the rhetoric of absolute rupture being widely proclaimed, putting this into practice while negotiating the exigencies of life is a decidedly more complex and fluid matter. Lelet pragmatism sometimes stands in the way of the radical idealism of Pentecostalism.

From Brokenness To Wholeness : A Christian Ministry For Healing “HAN” in the Korean Context

Today we are living with many problems in the world. Human beings are dying and expelled out of their living places even at this moment. Many people are forced to get out of their hometowns and wandering as refuges. Korea is another country where there many problems arising from evil structures. Above all, the division of Korea into north and south is the most painful suffering for all Koreans. After experiencing Japanese colonial rule for 36 years, Korea was divided in 1945, with its south occupied by the United States and its north by the Soviet Union. This division was solidified by the Korean War in 1950 to 1953. In Korea, all people are suffering from the same wound. It is characterized as so-called ‘han.’ That is, Koreans have suffered numerous invasions by surrounding powerful nations so that the very existence of the Korean nation has come to be understood as han. Of course, the term han is not only applied to Koreans but also to all other suffering peoples in the world. How should we, as Christians, understand and respond to the problem of han? It is important to search for solutions to their problems theologically. It is an important task for all Koreans to solve it. Further, it is one of essential issues for Christians to deal with the personal and social dimension of han. In this article, I focused on the case of Korea, centering on the concept of han. I first examined the concepts of han in several ways: the definitions of han; the stories of han; and the roots of han. Then, I explicated the biblical and theological basis for resolving the problem of han. Third, I searched for pastoral ways of healing han with regard to Christian healing ministry. In conclusion, I maintained that we must actively engage in work for justice and peace for the resolution of han. It is related to the social dimensions of Christian ministry, so-called social healing. Then, I briefly pointed out tasks for further studies.

Stigma among Saudi Youth: Across-sectional Study on Secondary and Intermediate School Adolescent Attitudes towards Serious Mental Illness in Taif City 2019

Background: Stigma is a fundamental barrier to individuals seeking out mental health treatment in the Middle East. The impact of stigma may be amplified if the engagement in and utilization of mental health services for psychosis further stigmatizes individuals and their families Stigma toward mentally ill individuals acts as a barrier to accessing care and receiving treatment. Stigma experienced from family members is pervasive. Moreover, social disapproval and devaluation of families with mentally ill individuals are an important concern. This holds true particularly with regards to marriage, marital separation and divorce. Psychic symptoms, unlike somatic symptoms, are construed as socially disadvantageous. Thus, somatization of psychiatric disorders is widespread. Negative attitudes towards mental illness are influenced by culture and affect people’s behavior differently depending on their cultural background. This is not to say that younger people have no stigma towards the mentally ill. Attitudes towards various aspects of mental illness, including its conceptualization and stigma towards the mentally ill are thought to form at an early age. The most urgent problem of mental health care in is the lack of personal and financial resources. Thus, mental health professionals are mostly located in urban areas. This increases the barriers to seek help and contributes to the stigmatization of the mentally ill. Aim of the study: This study aims to explore the dimensions of stigma and social tolerance and examine its correlates in the younger, population of Taif city. Method: cross sectional study conducted at secondary and intermediate schools at Taif city in 2019. Sample population consists the participants were youths aged 14-18 years old residing and studying in Taif at the time of data collection. Our total participants were (400) .Results: The Mean+ SD age of the sample was (16.923±1.582). Regarding of age was (13-32) and regarding the gender were 225 (57.7%) participants were male while females was (42.3%). most of the sample is shown secondary education was (89.2%) while preparatory was (10.8%) most of participant were Saudi nationality was(95.6%) a significant relation between age and Physical danger, Class thinking, Personal space where respectively (P-value=0.032, 0.000, 0.029) and r Respectively (0.108, 0.183.), Non-Saudi students had higher for contact with mentally ill individuals compared with Saudi students. Conclusion: We propose the following initiatives to reduce stigma toward mental illness in the KSA: (a) Health education to families to enable them to support their affected relatives, (b) Increase cooperation between psychiatrists and faith healers and (c) Health education programs to the young people in schools to increase their awareness and understanding of mental illnesses and to combat negative stereotypes.

Traditional religious worldview as persistent driver of healthcare practices in Southeast Nigeria

Background: Worldviews define reality and stipulate the specific attitudes towards each component of reality.This study assessed how traditional religious worldview in southeast Nigeria has persisted as a driver of healthcare practices in the region. The study was carried out in southeast Nigeria, particularly, Enugu and Anambra States. Data Source and Methods: Data for the study were collected using a six-item questionnaire administered to 400 respondents, and analyzed using simple percentages. Results: Most of the respondents see ailments as curses from gods/deities, or malicious machinations from evil forces. The predominant initial healthcare practice for ailments such as leg ulcer is to go to a dibia (61%) or to a faith healing home (29%). Conclusion: For health-interventions to succeed in southeast Nigeria, there is need for pre-intervention campaigns. There is also urgent need to proscribe faith healing homes in the region.

大巡｢济生医世｣宗教救治特色及其 与道教思想關係探微

大巡｢济生医世｣宗教救治特色及其 与道教思想關係探微

The Role of Prayer in Physical Health (Prayer Therapy)

Health has various dimensions: 1. physical health, 2. mental health, and 3. spiritual health that the spiritual health affects the physical and mental health and it is influenced by them at the same time. Prayer is the highest order of worship is the religion of Islam and can have physical, spiritual and spiritual effects on the individual. The prayer affects the individuals’ purity, Wudu1 and observance of one’s health directly affects one’s own health. Its physiological effects, such as bowing, strengthen the abdominal muscles, digestive system, the spine, neck, hands legs and thighs. Prostration is considered as the most important part of prayer in the treatment of lumbar discs, strengthening of the neck and increasing blood flow to the brain, which in turn contributes to the relaxation and reduction of anxiety. In this study, while addressing the principles and states of prayer, they are adjusted with the physicians’ recommendations, some of the results of which were that prayer is very effective in spiritual and body health. The results of medical research confirm that prayer can be referred to as the spirit and body exercise. There is a significant relationship between those parts of prayer and its components with more medical effects e.g. purity, the presence of the heart, long prostrations, and night prayer that are focused by the religion. The Quran and narrations refer to the multifaceted nature of prayer and its principles. Each principle is like the rings of a chain that provide the worldly and here after health of the human being.

African Pentecostal spirituality as a mystical tradition: How regaining its roots could benefit Pentecostals

Western academic theology do not succeed in accounting for the identity and faith culture of African Pentecostals for at least two reasons. In the first place, because as part of the Pentecostal movement it grew from the holiness, divine healing and revivalist movement that went back to Pietism and emphasised a holistic effective spirituality, and secondly, because it links with the holistic tradition of African traditional religions and worldview that share some aspects of the Old Testament realist way of thinking. African Pentecostalism needs another language to describe its unique way of doing theology in direct conjunction with spirituality. It is argued that the language of the time-honoured practice of mysticism is suitable for explaining its spirituality. Theology and spirituality should mutually inform and constitute each other, as emphasised in mystical theology, for Pentecostal theology to be a valid reflection and meditation on the experience of consciousness of the involvement of God. African Pentecostals will benefit by learning from this ancient tradition by using concepts of mystical theology to find words to state the unsayable. The article closes by asking what the language of mysticism would entail for Pentecostals. Several aspects that define Pentecostal spirituality demonstrate their relation with mystical theology, such as a separate experience of sanctification, an acknowledgement of affections in expressing religious sentiments, a different way of interpreting and participating in reality, ecstatic speech and a continual emphasis on a personal, experiential encounter with the Spirit of God.

Symbolic Cognition in Poetic Experience: Re-representing the Paraphrase Paradox

Abstract This article considers an apparent tension between, on the one hand, a widespread belief among literature teachers that the appreciation of a poem involves an experience of form-content inseparability and, on the other hand, these same teachers’ use of paraphrase to encourage appreciation. Using Terrence Deacon’s model of art experience, I argue that the tensions of this ‘paraphrase paradox’ mirror tensions inherent in poetic experience. Section II draws upon work by Rafe McGregor, Peter Lamarque, and Peter Kivy to frame an approach to the form-content distinction, and to offer a brief overview of the paraphrase paradox. Sections III-IV summarize Deacon’s model of aesthetic experience, and argue that this model implies that poetic experience both triggers an impulse towards paraphrase, and frustrates this impulse. Section V looks at implications for the poetry teacher’s attempts to navigate the paraphrase paradox. Section VI tests these implications through an analysis of Philip Larkin’s poem ‘Faith Healing’.

Reading the Fourfold Gospel From the Two Creation Stories in Genesis: A Creation Theological Understanding of the Fourfold Gospel for Holistic Mission

The Fourfold Gospel of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming was introduced to Korea in the early 20th century and played a crucial role in developing the Korea Holiness Churches. It seems, however, that the previous understanding of the Fourfold Gospel has some limitations in helping Christians to participate in missio Dei. Because missiological hermeneutics of the Fourfold Gospel has focused mainly on the theology of redemption, it has frequently led to a narrow understanding of missio Dei. Through the reading of the two creation stories in Genesis, we can recognize that God’s creative works already have redemptive meanings and that His redemptive works already have creative/creational meanings. In this sense, it is also possible to see the Fourfold Gospel from a creation theological perspective. This understanding may positively motivate Christians to participate in missio Dei to restore and complete God’s creation as his vicegerents and stewards.

Content Analysis of Spiritual Life in Contemporary USA, India, and China

This study investigates the lived-experience of spiritual life in contemporary USA, India, and China. A qualitative coding frame was constructed based on participant responses to open-ended questions regarding spirituality. Qualitative analysis was facilitated by the use of Dedoose, a mixed methods software. The exploratory approach of this study takes on a cross-culturally comparative lens, and has two primary questions: (1) What are the universal aspects of lived spirituality across cultures, and (2) How does culture shape spiritual experience (e.g., typology and prevalence)? A total of 6112 participants (41% women, mean age of 29 years, range 18–75 years) were recruited, and analysis was conducted on a subset of 900 participants. The primary thematic categories derived by content analysis included religion (religious traditions, religious conversion, religious professionals, religious figures “theophany,” and religious forces “heirophany”), contemplative practice (meditation, mindful movement, prayer, and rituals), ancestors (ancestral worship, dreams about ancestors, and general mention of ancestors), natural world (animals, and nature), and metaphysical phenomena. Metaphysical categories were further parsed apart to include extrasensory perception (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, realistic dreams, and intuitive impressions), psychokinesis, survival hypothesis (near death experiences, out of body experiences, and apparitional experiences), and faith and energy healing (recovery/remission of illness, and spiritual practitioners). Explanatory factors for similarities and differences across groups, and the origins of spirituality, are discussed.

Fitrah Guidance And Counseling In The Elimination Of Delinquency

At present, the delinquency rate of students continues to increase. This indicates that it is needed for an approach other than the learning process, and the effort is guidance and counseling. But in reality, religious counseling when viewed from operational technical aspects, the intervention model used is not as effective as the intervention model that has been developed in western counseling in general. Focus problem in this study trying to find a creative Islamic guidance and counseling approach, in the effort to eliminate delinquency. The approach used in this research is thematic tafseer and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The researcher focuses on one topic related to a particular problem then the researcher collects Al-Qur'an verses that are related both legally and legally and looks at the interpretation of the verse and copies and analyzes the results of the FGD to be presented as research results. The analytical method used is a qualitative method for finding and designing approach. The results of the thematic tafseer and FGD studies show that the fitrah guidance and counseling in the Qur'an has been successfully formulated in the form of material content used in the fitrah Guidance and Counseling procedures such as simulations of water and black ink, hawa nafsu vs hidayah techniques, tadabbur hadith a sin is one black point, tadabur hadith parable of Saleh friends accompanied by simulations and prayer therapy, zikrullah therapy, muraqabatullah, Social therapy (family therapy, community therapy, friendship with ulama). All material content is designed in a Guidance and Counseling approach in eliminating delinquency summarized in seven stages of the procedure, namely Muqaddimah, Recognize (i'tirof), Regret (nadam), Follow the Fitrah of God, Determine not to repeat ('adamut tikror), Husnudzon Billah and Self Improvement (Ishlah adz-Dzat).&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

People Giving Hope in the Time of COVID-19: They Also Serve Who Care and Share

People Giving Hope in the Time of COVID-19: They Also Serve Who Care and Share

Delay and treatment factors of psychiatric treatment among patients seeking faith healers

Background: Belief in faith healers, lack of awareness and stigma of mental illness have placed obstacles in timely identification and treatment of mental illness. This study assessed the factors influencing individuals with mental illness to seek faith healers. It was also planned to study the delay caused due to faith healers in starting psychiatric treatment. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 100 consecutive patients who had visited a faith healer at least once and attending the outpatient clinic of the department of psychiatry was done using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Fear of psychiatric medication (46%), stigma of psychiatric illness (44%) and beliefs in myths (43%) were the main reasons for avoiding psychiatric treatment. There was a significant delay in psychiatric treatment initiation when comparing people who first visit faith healers to those who first visited psychiatrists (28.2 months vs 14.5 months, p=0.002). Post-visit to psychiatrist, 57% prefer to continue with the psychiatrist, and 34% would visit both, and only 5% would prefer faith healer. Conclusions: Myths and stigma regarding psychiatric illness are prevalent, and mental health education can improve the scenario.