religious healing
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2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Lightner ◽  
Cynthiann Heckelsmiller ◽  
Edward H Hagen

Religious healing specialists such as shamans often use magic. Evolutionary theories that seek to explain why laypersons find these specialists convincing focus on the origins of magical cognition and belief in the supernatural. In two studies, we reframe the problem by investigating relationships among ethnomedical specialists, who possess extensive theories of disease that can often appear “supernatural,” and religious healing specialists. In study 1, we coded and analyzed cross-cultural descriptions of ethnomedical specialists in 47 cultures, finding 24% were also religious leaders and 74% used supernatural theories of disease. We identified correlates of the use of supernatural concepts among ethnomedical specialists; incentives and disincentives to patronize ethnomedical specialists; and distinct clusters of ethnomedical specialists that we label prestigious teachers, feared diviners, and efficacious healers. In study 2, we interviewed 84 Maasai pastoralists and their traditional religious and non-religious healing specialists. We found that laypersons relied on medicinal services based on combinations of efficacy, religious identity, and interpersonal trust. Further, laypersons and specialists largely used abstract concepts that were not conspicuously supernatural to describe how local medicines work. We conclude that religious healers in traditional societies often fulfill a practical and specialized service to local clients, and argue that supernatural theories of disease often reflect abstract cognition about rare phenomena whose causes are unobservable (e.g., infection, mental illness) instead of a separate “religious” style of thinking.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Soucek ◽  
Roman Hofreiter

Introduction: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)<br>in Europe has intensely increased in recent decades. To acquire<br>information about the patterns and trends of CAM use in Slovakia, a<br>nationwide representative survey was conducted on Slovakian adult<br>population.<br>Methods: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was<br>administered to the general population of Slovakian residents aged 18<br>years and over. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face by<br>professional interviewers. Data were collected during September 2019 as<br>a part of an omnibus survey on a variety of subjects.<br>Results: Altogether, 82.4% of the respondents reported either regular<br>CAM method use or the lifetime prevalence of such use. The most<br>frequently reported group of methods were biologically based treatments<br>(78.9%), followed by manipulative and body-based methods (54.4%),<br>mind-body interventions (31.9%), whole medical systems (18.2%) and<br>energy therapies (4.2%). Vitamins (71.1%), herbal teas (68.1%),<br>massages (53.6%), religious healing (20.3%) and special diets (18.8%)<br>were the five most commonly preferred CAM modalities. It was indicated<br>that female respondents with higher household income are more likely to<br>use CAM.<br>Conclusions: Female gender, higher income and higher education are<br>significant predictors of CAM use. The study highlights the association<br>between satisfaction with healthcare systems, health situations, and the<br>use of CAM.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Soucek ◽  
Roman Hofreiter

Introduction: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)<br>in Europe has intensely increased in recent decades. To acquire<br>information about the patterns and trends of CAM use in Slovakia, a<br>nationwide representative survey was conducted on Slovakian adult<br>population.<br>Methods: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was<br>administered to the general population of Slovakian residents aged 18<br>years and over. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face by<br>professional interviewers. Data were collected during September 2019 as<br>a part of an omnibus survey on a variety of subjects.<br>Results: Altogether, 82.4% of the respondents reported either regular<br>CAM method use or the lifetime prevalence of such use. The most<br>frequently reported group of methods were biologically based treatments<br>(78.9%), followed by manipulative and body-based methods (54.4%),<br>mind-body interventions (31.9%), whole medical systems (18.2%) and<br>energy therapies (4.2%). Vitamins (71.1%), herbal teas (68.1%),<br>massages (53.6%), religious healing (20.3%) and special diets (18.8%)<br>were the five most commonly preferred CAM modalities. It was indicated<br>that female respondents with higher household income are more likely to<br>use CAM.<br>Conclusions: Female gender, higher income and higher education are<br>significant predictors of CAM use. The study highlights the association<br>between satisfaction with healthcare systems, health situations, and the<br>use of CAM.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-121
Author(s):  
Hedvig von Ehrenheim

Abstract The article analyses possible placebo effects that Late Antique religious healing might have had. It focuses on healings believed to have been sent in dreams to worshippers, both in pagan and Early Christian tradition. It also investigates how possible placebo effects might have served to propagate and spread the particular cults (be it the cult of Asklepios, or the Early Christian cults of martyrs). The paper seeks to integrate modern placebo research with the ancient accounts of healings, answering the following question: is it possible that the placebo effect (above all relief of pain) was activated in ancient times by the same factors as seen in experiments today (e. g. effect of the healer’s persona, ritualized behaviour, and above all belief in the cure)? The scope of the paper is at the end broadened to touch upon the question to what degree ancient religious healing offered a socially well-established method of handling illnesses psychologically and fill the need to act, even if a cure as such was not a probable result.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-129
Author(s):  
Wiwik Setiyani

Human life is dynamic in maintaining the balance of their soul. Life problems such as family conflict have an impact on mental balance. This study analyzed a bipolar patient, based on the result of observation, in-depth interviews, and relevant documents from one of the mental hospitals. Freud and Jung were chosen as a method for analyzing the concept of self-defense. The purpose of the study was to analyze bipolar psychiatric condition by finding the factors that influenced it. The findings revealed that life experience formed spirituality with zikir continually and practiced prayer despite the bipolar condition. Self-defense by continuing to maintain religious behavior as religious healing is one of the alternative solutions by involving the role of the family.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 563
Author(s):  
Anne Austad ◽  
Marianne Rodriguez Nygaard ◽  
Tormod Kleiven

Poor health often motivates people to engage in religious and spiritual approaches to healing. However, there is limited research on such experiences from a northern European perspective. This article investigates healing experiences related to Christian faith and practices in Norway by thematic analysis of 25 semi-structured interviews with individuals who have experienced healing of different ailments. In so doing, healing events across diverse contexts are characterised, and the results show that such experiences not only feature practices in which other people are present in prayer, preaching, and the laying on of hands, but also spontaneous extraordinary encounters with a divine being through visions and voices. The healing events are further described as experiences of transformational, powerful touch. In light of the lived body theory, these transformational experiences can be understood as re-inscriptions of health that are manifested in the intertwined bio–psycho–social–spiritual aspects of the body.


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