The Use of Traditional Healing in South Asian Psychiatric Patients in the U.K.: Interactions between Professional and Folk Psychiatries

Abstract

The use of traditional healing and traditional healers among ethnic minority psychiatric patients remains little explored in the U.K. Using qualitative and quantitative methodology, this article examines the use of traditional healing among 25 South Asian psychiatric patients in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Twenty-eight percent of the sample had resorted to a traditional healer during their psychiatric illness. Five case studies are presented which illustrate the various forms of traditional healing used. Although the numbers are small, the study suggests that South Asian psychiatric patients in Britain do resort to traditional forms of healing in collaboration with western psychiatric treatments. Asian patients use a number of treatments concurrently, although they may often not always understand how the treatments work. Humoral theories are commonly posited to explain mental illness and foods are commonly used in treatment. Only the age of the patient was significantly related to the use of a traditional healer. These findings are discussed in relation to globalization.