Native Healers Research Articles

Health issues and the Pala Indian Reservation, 1903-20.

Joel R. Hyer investigates health conditions on one Indian reservation in Southern California during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Hyer contends that unsanitary conditions on the Pala Reservation actually facilitated the spread of diseases among local Cupeño, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay Indians. He also describes how the United States federal government employed doctors, field matrons, and others to promote good health and combat disease among Indians at Pala. The author asserts that, despite their altruistic intentions, some of these government workers attempted to discourage local indigenous peoples from consulting their shamans for medical attention - Native healers whose extensive knowledge of roots and herbs had cured many forms of illness for years. In addition, the teacher at the reservation's day school sought to prevent the spread of disease among her Indian pupils by exposing them to American modes of health care. Furthermore, Hyer maintains that one national health program, the "Save the Babies" campaign, was successful on the Pala Reservation because Indian mothers believed in it and followed specific guidelines to lower mortality rates among their own children. Throughout his essay, the author addresses the pressures of assimilation and acculturation that were so accute at this time in the United States. Hyer concludes by suggesting that many of his findings reflect broader health trends on Indian reservations throughout the United States during this period.

Masoprocol decreases serum triglyceride concentrations in rats with fructose-induced hypertriglyceridemia

Historically, extracts of the creosote bush have been used by native healers of the Southwest region of North America to treat symptoms of type 2 diabetes. More recently, we have shown that masoprocol (nordihydroguaiaretic acid), a pure compound isolated from the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), decreases serum glucose and triglyceride (TG) levels when administered orally in rodent models of type 2 diabetes. The present studies were undertaken to determine if masoprocol also decreases TG concentrations in rats with fructose-induced hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), a nondiabetic model of HTG associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. Serum TG levels, which were significantly higher after rats ate a fructose-enriched (60% by weight) diet for 14 days as compared with chow-fed controls (411 v 155 mg/dL, P <.01), decreased in a stepwise fashion in fructose-fed rats treated orally with masoprocol for 4 to 8 days over a dose range of 10 to 80 mg/kg twice daily. Using the nonionic detergent Triton WR 1339 to compare TG secretion rates in masoprocol- and vehicle-treated rats, masoprocol at a dose of 40 or 80 mg/kg twice daily, significantly reduced hepatic TG secretion (P<.01) and liver TG content (P<.001), whereas lower doses of masoprocol decreased serum TG without an apparent reduction in hepatic TG secretion. Administration of Intralipid (a fat emulsion) showed that the half-time for removal of TG from serum was also shorter in masoprocol-treated rats versus vehicle-treated controls (31 v 64 minutes, P<.05). In addition adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity was increased in masoprocol-treated rats and adipose tissue hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) activity was decreased. We conclude that masoprocol administration to rats with fructose-induced HTG results in lower serum TG levels associated with reduced hepatic TG secretion and increased peripheral TG clearance.

Traditional Healers in the Nigerian Health Care Delivery System and the Debate over Integrating Traditional and Scientific Medicine

Relying on experience with a traditional healer, focus group discussions, and interviews with traditional healers, the author analyzes the functions and importance of traditional healers in the health care delivery system of Nigeria. It is concluded that in a society where involves not just the curing of disease but also the protection and promotion of human physical, spiritual, and material well-being, traditional healers remain the very embodiment of conscience and hope in their respective communities. The holistic and cathartic nature of their treatment and the fact that in certain places in the country they are the major or only source of health care, make them very important. The author also examines the debate over the possible integration of traditional and scientific medicine. It is concluded that outright integration would be too ambitious and practically impossible but that some form of cooperation is possible, given political will. Regardless of the official government policy on the issue, the two traditions are complementary and Nigerians patronize both of them. [Nigeria, traditional healers, Ibibio, integration of traditional and scientific medicine, health care delivery systems] Introduction African traditional healers have been variously referred to as herbalists, native doctors, native healers, traditional doctors, medicine men, doctors, among others. The title of witch doctors suggests that the singular role of this category of African specialists is to detect witches. Far from it; they do much more. Traditional healers are often the main source from which a large segment of African population receive their health care, especially since healing is far more than the curing of disease or illness. In Nigeria as well as in other developing countries, scientific and traditional medicine exist side by side and the two systems are patronized by health consumers; both complement each other (Oyebola 1981; Warren et al. 1982; Offiong 1991). In certain places the traditional healers are often the only source of health care for between 80-90% of the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been quite aware of the problems associated with health care delivery in developing and poor countries of the world. Thus in 1978 it declared the Primary Health Care (PHQ strategy which was to be adopted by the member states. The strategy called for the promotion and development of traditional medicine (WHO 1978). The result has been the enormous interest in the actual and potential role of traditional medical systems in the provision of health services, especially in the poor countries of the developing world (Bishaw 1991). This situation continues to generate debate as to whether traditional and scientific medicine can ever be integrated. Nigeria has been involved in this debate although the government has remained lackadaisical about a clear national policy on the matter. I seek in this article to share my experience as a clerk to a renowned traditional healer, my uncle. I then describe the functions and therefore the importance of traditional healers in the Ibibio community of southeast Nigeria in particular and in Nigeria in general. Finally, I summarize arguments for and against the integration of traditional medicine into scientific medicine. I begin with brief description of my experience that is germane to this article. Background At home, in an Ibibio community in southeastern Nigeria, I had a paternal uncle (whom I will call Oko, not his real name) who was a renowned traditional healer (abia ibok-). Since his compound was directly opposite my father's, this offered me, my brothers and sisters, and sometimes my cousins and friends a great opportunity to watch my uncle's operations. Oko was a Methodist convert but when the evangelical zeal of the missionaries prohibited members from engaging in any traditional practices which they branded heathenish, he was one of the first to quit the church to become a full time traditional healer. …

Effect of masoprocol on glucose transport and lipolysis by isolated rat adipocytes

Masoprocol (nordihydroguaiaretic acid) is a lipoxygenase inhibitor isolated from the creosote bush and used by native healers to treat type 2 diabetes. It has been recently shown to decrease serum glucose, free fatty acid (FFA), and triglyceride (TG) concentrations in rodent models of type 2 diabetes. The current study was initiated to quantify the effects of masoprocol incubation of adipocytes isolated from normal rats. The results indicate that masoprocol significantly increased glucose uptake by adipocytes in both the absence and presence of insulin. In addition, the maximal rate of insulin-stimulated glucose transport was increased in adipocytes incubated with masoprocol and the insulin concentration resulting in a half-maximal glucose transport rate (ED 50) decreased. Finally, isoproterenol-stimulated increases in FFA and glycerol release were significantly decreased in the presence of masoprocol. These results provide an explanation at the cellular level for the observation that masoprocol decreases serum glucose, insulin, and FFA concentrations in rodent models of type 2 diabetes.

Use of native American healers in an urban native American health centre

Use of native American healers in an urban native American health centre

Navajo use of native healers.

Although the Indian Health Service provides extensive health care service to Navajo people, the role of native healers, or medicine men, has not been quantitatively described. To determine the prevalence of native healer use, the reasons for use, cost of use, and the nature of any conflict with conventional medicine. We conducted a cross-sectional interview of 300 Navajo patients seen consecutively in an ambulatory care clinic at a rural Indian Health Service hospital. Sixty-two percent of Navajo patients had used native healers and 39% used native healers on a regular basis; users were not distinguishable from nonusers by age, education, income, fluency in English, identification of a primary provider, or compliance, but Pentecostal patients used native healers less than patients of other faiths. Patients consulted native healers for common medical conditions such as arthritis, depression, and diabetes mellitus as well as "bad luck." Perceived conflict between native healer advice and medical provider advice was rare. Cost was the main barrier to seeking native healer care. Among the Navajo, use of native healers for medical conditions is common and is not related to age, sex, or income but is inversely correlated with the Pentecostal faith; use of healers overlaps with use of medical providers for common medical conditions. Patients are willing to discuss use of native healers and rarely perceive conflict between native healer and conventional medicine. This corroborates other research suggesting that alternative medicine is widely used by many cultural groups for common diseases.

Native Healers

Native Healers

Oral treatment of erectile dysfunction: From herbal remedies to designer drugs

The erect penis has always been a symbol of power, virility, and fertility. Inability to obtain or maintain an erection, known clinically as erectile dysfunction, is a major health problem. It can cause considerable distress, unhappiness, and relationship problems. The search has therefore continued from time immemorial to find an effective, safe, and easy to administer treatment for erectile problems. Although a number of these treatments became available in the last two decades, they all had problems with efficacy, safety, or ease of administration. Clinicians in this field often are told at the end of an assessment interview, ‘I wish you have a magic pill. “An effective and safe oral treatment is, no doubt, the most acceptable and easy to use option. Finding such a treatment has always been the dream of many scientists, and many attempts have been made over the years. These ranged from herbal remedies used by native healers, mostly in Eastern countries, to the more sophisticated designer drugs, which are based on a better understanding of the physiological mechanism of erection. This article describes some of these attempts.

Native Healers

Alternative and Complementary TherapiesVol. 4, No. 2 Native HealersPart 1—Walking the Circle of LifeSuzanne HardingSuzanne HardingSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Feb 2009https://doi.org/10.1089/act.1998.4.112AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byHealing As a Way of Life Suzanne Harding7 August 2009 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 5, No. 4 Volume 4Issue 2Apr 1998 To cite this article:Suzanne Harding.Native Healers.Alternative and Complementary Therapies.Apr 1998.112-121.http://doi.org/10.1089/act.1998.4.112Published in Volume: 4 Issue 2: February 3, 2009PDF download

La medicina indígena en la Española y su comercialización (1492-1550)

In this article the important herbalist knowledge that the native healers or behiques possessed in la Española are pointed out. They concealed their herbalist knowledge as a means to preserve their priviledged social status, on the ather haud, es a rejection to the conquerors. Soon the spaniards realised the importance that the native herbalist knouledge had as an enterprise and began a profitable trade of liqueur and medicinal plants to the Iberian Peninsula.

In Vitro Antimalarial Activity of Vegetal Extracts Used in West African Traditional Medicine

Among strategies for the development of new antimalarials, a study of plants traditionally used in Africa against malaria has been pursued. Extracts obtained from the plants Azadirachta indica, Cinnamonum camphora, Lippia multiflora, Vernonia colorata, Guiera senegalensis, Combretum micranthum, and Ximenia americana, commonly used in Cote d'Ivoire by native healers for the treatment of malaria, were tested on two strains of Plasmodium falciparum: FcB1-Colombia (chloroquine-resistant) and F32-Tanzania (chloroquine-sensitive). Extracts were obtained after infusion and decoction, both techniques being used by most native healers. The antimalarial activities of the extracts were tested first by parasite 3H-hypoxanthine incorporation and second by visual evaluation of the activities of plant extracts on thin blood smears, which also permitted the determination of parasitic stages and parasite alteration. Among the seven plants tested, some had an apparent inhibitory effect on P. falciparum growth in vitro, while other seemed to be less efficient.

Cultural Identity, Authenticity, and Community Survival: The Politics of Recognition in the Study of Native American Religions

which explores the structures of American imperialism and the ways in which structures of dominance have framed Native American ethnicity, race, gender, and religion.2 This paper proposes that specific issues raised in the politics of recognition, namely, cultural identity, authenticity, and community survival, provide critical approaches to the study of American Indian religions. These approaches are not simply political perspectives but ways of illuminating social forces and ritual practices in Native American communities.3 Native American identity has rarely been understood in its cultural and social setting in mainstream America. Individualism and stereotypes of heroic warrior personalities have been emphasized in a way that distorts the actual Native stress on individual identity in the context of cultural community. The academic study of Native American healers, shamans, or medicine men has at times over emphasized the personal biographical and visionary formation of these healers with little or no attention to the

Extraction of primary canine tooth buds: prevalence and associated dental abnormalities in a group of Ethiopian Jewish children.

Recent publications have described a common belief, held in rural areas in Africa, that unerupted primary canines cause diarrhoea, vomiting and fever in infants. To relieve these symptoms a traditional native healer extracts these tooth buds. The emigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991 allowed an investigation of this practice among this community. A group of 59 children (27 boys and 32 girls) aged 3-12 years were examined clinically and radiographically. Evidence was found of extraction of 63 primary canine buds in 35 (59%) of the children. Extraction of one canine was found in 16 children, two in 13 children and three in three children, and three children had all four canines extracted. Forty-six (74%) mandibular compared to only 16 (26%) maxillary canines had been extracted; the extractions were equally divided between both sides of the jaws. Another 19 primary canines had hypoplastic defects, probably the result of unsuccessful extractions. Associated dental abnormalities included hypoplasia of the permanent successors and adjacent primary and permanent teeth, displacement of permanent teeth, midline shift to the extraction side, missing primary lateral incisors (probably accidentally extracted) and distal eruption of permanent lateral incisors, leaving their primary predecessors retained. Parental enquiry revealed that the practice is more common in rural rather than urban areas and still exists in the Ethiopian community in Israel. The findings of this survey should urge the authorities to take steps to stop this practice.

Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and Its Healing Traditions

Sudhir Kakar, a psychoanalyst and scholar, brilliantly illuminates the ancient healing traditions of India embodied in the rituals of shamans, the teachings of gurus, and the precepts of the school of medicine known as Ayurveda. With extraordinary sympathy, open-mindedness, and insight Sudhir Kakar has drawn from both his Eastern and Western backgrounds to show how the gulf that divides native healer from Western psychiatrist can be spanned. Rosemary Dinnage, New York Review of Books Each chapter describes the geographical and cultural context within which the healers work, their unique approach to healing mental illness, and . . . the philosophical and religious underpinnings of their theories compared with psychoanalytical theory. Choice

"Ignorant of any rational method": European assessments of indigenous healing practices in the North American Arctic.

By focusing on a single therapy—surgical treatment of headache—this article defines the broad pattern of early white reactions to native healing in the North American Arctic. Many Europeans, particularly those with medical training, denied the value of indigenous surgery. Missionaries, to the contrary, recognized its success, and thought its suppression necessary: "cutting" reinforced native religious concepts by providing an exit for illness-causing spirits. When they could not deny the efficacy of traditional therapy, Europeans resorted to naturalistic explanations. In practice, they realized, there was little difference between indigenous arctic and European surface surgery: both produced bleeding and counterirritation. Native healers, it followed, were unwittingly applying contemporary European treatments; alternatively, they had learned effective procedures through contact with whites. Only very rarely did newcomers incorporate indigenous therapeutic concepts into their treatment of native patients. With few exceptions, Europeans failed to recognize inherent value in traditional northern healing.

The pathways to psychiatric care: a cross-cultural study

This paper describes the referral pathways taken by 1554 patients newly referred to the mental health services in 11 countries, and documents factors associated with delays in referral. The pathways in centres relatively well provided with psychiatric staff were dominated by general practitioners and to a lesser extent hospital doctors: the relatively less well resourced centres showed a variety of pathways with native healers often playing an important part. Delays were remarkably short in all centres regardless of psychiatric resources, but in some centres we found longer delays on pathways involving native healers. Somatic problems were a common presentation in all centres, and in some centres there was a tendency for patients presenting with somatic problems to have longer delays than those with symptoms of depression or anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of an ongoing programme of WHO research activities aimed at improving the quality of mental illness care available in community settings.

Neuropsychopharmacologic properties of a Schumanniophyton problematicum root extract

Schumanniphyton problematicum is a plant popular among Nigerian native healers for the treatment of pschotic patients (madness). An extract obtained by ethanol extraction of the roots caused reductions in respiratory rate, body and limb tone, startle response and spontaneous locomotor activity after i.p. injection in mice, and was capable of inhibiting amphetamine-induced hyperactivity and stereotypic behaviour. It also induced passivity, piloerection, hypothermia and prolonged pentobarbital sleeping time. The i.p. LD 50 of the extract in mice was 2.37 g kg . The effects of the extract appear to be due to depression of central and autonomic system.

Illness behaviour in mental ill-health in Kuwait

Two hundred and eight individuals were interviewed in order to study the behaviour they adopt in relation to the most common somatic and emotional symptoms of mental ill-health. Illness behaviour included ignoring, brooding, self-help and consultation of others. Older individuals tended more frequently to resort to meditation, native healers and doctors. Males consulted doctors more than females. Brooding was more frequent in well educated subjects. A group of married expatriates who left their wives in their original countries were the most likely to consult doctors. Education and marital status were the most predictive of brooding and self-help behaviour. Self-help was the most commonly adopted illness behaviour. The results are explained in terms of the social and cultural background of the individuals studied because this influences their methods of expressing distress and their action in relation to symptoms.

Shamanism in Bangladesh

When I was young I visited my village along with other members of our family. A relation of mine had a daughter, the first child. The daughter was then three years old and was beautiful and healthy, but she suddenly fell ill and died within two days. It was discovered that some of her hair had been taken away, and there were marks of scratches on her chest. Everybody in the family believed that it was the work of a sorcerer, who caused the girl to die in order to bring a cure to a certain childless mother whose babies had all died shortly after birth. The family called a faquir, a mystic and native healer who was capable of detecting such a sorcerer's crime with the help of magical methods, such as the use of a magic glass known in Bengali as aina-bharon. The faquir explained that the sorcerer took away some of the hair and chest skin of the victim and put these into an amulet either on a Shanibar (Saturday) or Mongolbar (Tuesday) during the night of the new moon, or amavasya, and then colsed its mouth with wax from a bee's comb. The faquir further said that the victim in such a case must be a mother's first child, and that the death of the child would procure an off-spring for another childless mother. The off-spring who was thus procured would continue to live as usual. Thefaquir added that if the crime of the sorcerer was detected before any damage was done to the life of the victim, this was to be brought at once to the attention of everybody in the village. An announcement should be made that the sorcerer had taken away the hair or nail or chest skin of the victim. Then all the victim's hair should be cut, burnt, and buried at the meeting point of three roads. The victim would then be safe. During our stay in the village, we came

The Traditional Treatment of the Psychiatric Patient in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Fifty Yoruba male patients were interviewed in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Abeokuta, Nigeria. The interview revealed that most Yoruba people seek traditional healers for their physical and emotional illnesses. The type of treatment obtained from the healers has a significant meaning for each patient who seeks that kind of treatment. The native healers and the (Aladura) Church sect are commonly patronized, followed by the (Alfa) Moslem healers. The type of treatment received by the patients were: native drugs, charms to wear, venesection, exorcism, prayers with candlelight, animal sacrifice, medicinal water for washing, and restraint. A few patients attended the general hospital and health center where they received drugs and injections. It was only a negligible percentage of the patients who sought direct psychiatric care, when they were emotionally ill.