Aboriginals and traditional healing practices: A survey

A changing conception of health care has been expanding to include alternative fields of medicine. In addition to family practitioners, there are chiropractors, homeopaths, acupuncturists and folk healers. Native healing practices are of particular relevance to counselors and mental health professionals. There is evidence that native healing, like psychotherapy, is accomplished by way of an implicit or explicit agreement to modify dysfunctional behavior through interpersonal processes. Native healing has demonstrated roughly the same efficacy rates as Western medicine. The extent to which traditional healing practices remain active in the Aboriginal community is not well known. Exploring the status of these practices is the focus of this survey study. Aboriginal adult volunteers were surveyed in a number of educational settlings to assess their interest in, valuing of and participation in traditional healing. It was found that, not only were the respondents interested in traditional healing practices, but they held them of value. The majority of respondents reported having participated in traditional native healing practices.