Handbook of Culture, Therapy, and Healing

Emotional, as well as physical distress, is a heritage from our hominid ancestors; it has been experienced by every group of human beings since our emergence as a species. And every known culture has developed systems of conceptualization and intervention for addressing it. The editors have brought together leading psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, and others to consider the interaction of psychosocial, biological, and cultural variables as they influence the assessment of health and illness and the course of therapy. The volume includes broadly conceived theoretical and survey chapters; detailed descriptions of specific healing traditions in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Arab world; and chapters focusing on such current issues as multicultural concerns within societies, specific populations, such as refugees, and the integration of traditional and modern forms of counseling and healing. Taken together, the chapters offer a broad overview of Western and non-Western traditions as these span the divides among psychosocial, medical, and religious approaches. The Handbook of Culture, Therapy, and Healing is a unique resource, containing information about Western therapies practiced in non-Western cultures, non-Western therapies practiced both in their own context and in the West, shamanism, and religious healing, and their interrelationships; as well as contemporary (Western) scientific perspectives on the wide range of therapy and healing practices. It will expand the horizons of all those who work with or study human beings in distress.