Ritual and Healing

Pre-modern forms of healing are based on two different cognitive symbolic interpretations: (1) the disease is caused either by a lack of power; or (2) by possession by an evil power. Healings are therefore due to ‘adorcism’ (the good spirits who had previously left the sick person re-enter him) and ‘exorcism’ (the bad spirits who had entered the person are driven out). Early Christianity institutionalized both forms of healing by increasing ritualization. Four theories of pre-modern healings are combined in a theory of effective correspondence: charismatic healing is based on the efficacy of faith (or the placebo effect), social healing on the reduction of social stress, symbolic healing, and ritual healing on the correspondence between internal symbolic and external processes. Embodied rituals are only effective if they are embedded in a social context, with charismatics, cognitive interpretations, and social support.

Patients, pharmacists, and the placebo in France: From iatrogenic to ethical risks

Placebos have attracted widespread interest amongst anthropologists who have sought to explain the placebo dimension of medicines or healing rituals prescribed by health professionals or traditional healers by emphasizing aspects relating to symbolic healing. Very little investigation has been done however into the perceptions individuals hold of placebos, and their reasons for resorting to placebos and/or the placebo effect within the framework of family medication, on one hand, and the perception pharmacists have on this issue and the uses they make of it in their responses to the demands of users, on the other. This article addresses their uses of placebos and the placebo effect within the context of medicinal risk management in France; it also examines the perception actors have of placebos (whether ‘pure’ or ‘impure’) in the light of their ethical positions.

Commonalities Between Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Native American Healing

There are many commonalities between the techniques used in Ericksonian psychotherapy and the healing rituals used by traditional Native American tribes. Milton H. Erickson had some Indian heritage and may have derived some of his therapeutic techniques from his study of tribal healing practices. A review of the literature shows that both approaches emphasize symbolic healing through the use of story-telling, metaphors, ambiguous tasks, ordeals, and rituals. Both also use direct and indirect hypnosis to relieve psychological distress. Implications for the practice of mental health counseling are described.