Abstract
This article is the second of a two-part discussion of non-medical treatment outcomes based upon follow-ups of patients at a Spiritualist temple situated in a rural region of Mexico. The first part of the analysis focussed on two of three categories of patients seeking treatment there (i.e., habitual temple users and first comers). Unlike these two categories of patients who are not believers in Spiritualism, the present concern is with the category of patients (i.e., regulars) who identify Spiritualism as their religion and believe in Spiritualist ideology. These patients require separate consideration because, unlike the others, they are exposed to several Spiritualist therapeutic modalities which influence treatment outcomes. Follow-ups of these patients reveal the dialectical relationship and the gradual nature of the healing process. Spiritualist treatment outcomes are assessed by an interplay of physiological, psychological, sociological, and cultural paradigms. The hypothesis is advanced that while Spiritualist healers frequently fail to eliminate patients' subjectively perceived symptoms, the therapies to which these patients are subject alter cognition by facilitating pain tolerance and promote response to cultural symbols employed by temple healers. Examination of treatment outcomes of these patients also calls attention to syndromes which fail to respond to Spiritualist therapy including psychotic episodes. A brief comparison is made between Spiritualist treatment outcome and psychotherapy which leads to the conclusion that Spiritualists succeed no less than the latter in eliminating the sick role, restoring the individual's behavioral capacities, and eliminating the feeling of “being sick.”
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonovsky, Aaron. 1980 Health, Stress and Coping. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Battle, C. et al. 1966 Target Complaints as Criteria for Improvement. American Journal of Psychotherapy 20: 184–192.
Bebbington, Paul E. 1978 Epidemiology of Depressive Disorders. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 4: 297–341.
Beecher, Henry K. 1962 Pain, Placebos and Physicians. The Practitioner 189: 141–155.
Benfari, Robert, Beiser, Morton, H. Leighton, Alexander and Murphy, Jane M. 1976 The Measurement of Health in Populations. In Further Explorations of Social Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Benson, Herbert et al. 1976 Historical and Clinical Considerations of the Relaxation Response. American Scientist 65: 441–445.
Berger, Peter L. and Luckmann, Thomas. 1967 The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City: Anchor Books.
Bergin, Allen E. 1971 The Evaluation of Therapeutic Outcomes. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. Edited by Allen E. Bergin and Sol L. Garfield. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Blumer, Dietrich et al. 1980 Systematic Treatment of Chronic Pain with Antidepressants. Henry Ford Hospital Medical Journal 28: 15–21.
Bourguignon, Erica. 1976 The Effectiveness of Religious Healing Movements: A Review of Recent Literature. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review 8: 5–21.
Cassell, Eric. 1976 The Healer's Art. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.
Chapple, Eliot D. 1970 Culture and Biological Man. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Cohen, Yehudi. 1968 Culture as Adaptation: The Cultural Present. Edited by Yehudi Cohen. pp. 40–60.
Crapanzano, Vincent. 1973 The Hamadsha. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Davis, John and Cole, Jonathan O. 1975 Antipsychotic Drugs. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry II. Edited by Alfred M. Freedman, Harold I. Kaplan, B. Sadock. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkings Co., p. 1921–1941.
Fabrega, Horacio Jr. 1974 Disease and Social Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Fabrega, Horacio Jr. 1977 Group Differences in the Structure of Illness. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 397–394.
Finkler, Kaja. 1976 Spiritualism in Rural Mexico. Actes du XLII Congrès International Des Américanistes 6: 99–105.
Finkler, Kaja. 1978 From Sharecroppers to Entrepreneurs: Peasant Household Production Strategies under the Ejido system of Mexico. Economic Development and Cultural Change 27: 103–120.
Finkler, Kaja. In press Dissident Religious Movements in the Service of Women's Power. Sex Roles. A Journal of Research.
Finkler, Kaja. 1980a Land Scarcity and Economic Development. When is a Landlord a Client and a Sharecropper his Patron? In Agricultural Decision Making. Edited by Peggy F. Barlett. New York: Academic Press, pp. 265–288.
Finkler, Kaja 1980b Non-Medical Treatments and Their Outcomes. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 4: 301–340.
Fiske, Donald W. et al. 1970 Planning of Research on Effectiveness of Psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 22: 22–32.
Foster, George M. 1963 The Dyadic Contract in Tzintzuntzan II; Patron-Client Relationships. American Anthropologist 65: 1280–1294.
Foster, George M. and Anderson, Barbara Gallentin. 1978 Medical Anthropology. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Frank, Jerome D. 1974 Persuasion and Healing. New York: Schocken Books.
Frank, Jerome D. 1975 Psychotherapy of Bodily Disease. Psychother. Psychosom. 26: 192–202.
Freedman, Alfred M. and Kaplan, Harold K. 1972 Diagnosing Mental Illness. New York: Anthenuem.
Garrison, Vivian. 1977 Doctor, Espiritista or Psychiatrist? Health-seeking Behavior in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of New York City. Medical Anthropology 1: 65–180.
Gellhorn, Ernst and Kiely, William F. 1972 Mystical States of Consciousness: Neurophysiological and Clinical Aspects. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 154: 399–405.
Gillin, John. 1965 Magical Fright. In Reader in Comparative Religion. Second Edition. Edited by William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt. New York: Harper and Row pp. 402–410.
Glasser, Morton. 1977 Psychiatric Cases in a Family Practice: Analysis of Outcomes. Medical Anthropology 1: 55–73.
Harwood, Alan. 1977 Puerto Rican Spiritism. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 135–153.
Higgins, Paul C. 1979 The Future of Health and Medicine: The Issues We Face. In Health, Illness, and Medicine. Edited by Fary L. Albrecht and Paul C. Higgins. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Hogarty, Gerard E. and Goldberg, Solomon C. 1973 Drug and Sociotherapy in the Aftercare of Schizophrenic Patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 28: 54–64.
Jilek, Wolfgang G. and Todd, Norman. 1974 Witchdoctors Succeed Where Doctors Fail: Psychotherapy among Coast Salish Indians. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 19: 351–356. (Reprinted in Anthropology Full Circle. Edited by Ino Ross, John Buettner-Janusch, and Dorian Coppenhaven. New York: Praeger Publishers 1977, pp. 400–403.)
Jilek, Wolfgang, G. 1974 Salish Indian Mental Health and Culture Change. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, Limited.
Kalimo, Asko, Brice, Thomas W. and Novosel, Mariga. 1970 Cross-Cultural Analysis of Selected Emotional Questions From the Cornell Medical Index. British Journal of Preventive Social Medicine 24: 229–240.
Katon, Wayne, Kleinman, Arthur and Rosen, Gary. N.D.a Depression and Somatization. A Review, Part I. (manuscript)
Katon, Wayne, Kleinman, Arthur and Rosen, Gary. N.D.b Depression and Somatization. A Review, Part II. (manuscript)
Kennedy, John G. 1967 Nubian Zar Ceremonies as Psychotherapy. Human Organization 26: 185–194.
Kleinman, A. and Sung, L. H. 1979 Why Do Indigenous Practitioners Successfully Heal? Social Science and Medicine 1313: 7–26.
Kleinman, Arthur. 1980 Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Koss, Joan D. 1975 Therapeutic Aspects of Puerto Rican Cult Practices. Psychiatry 38: 160–171.
Krippner, Stanley. 1978 Psychic Healing. A Multidimensional View. In Healing. Edited by James L. Fossage and Paul Olsen. New York: Human Sciences Press.
Leighton, Alexander H., Prince, Raymond and May, Rollo. 1968 The Therapeutic Process in Cross-Cultural Perspectives, a Symposium. American Journal of Psychiatry 124: 1171–1183.
Lex, Barbara W. 1976 Physiological Aspects of Ritual Trance. Journal of Altered States of Consciousness 2: 109–122.
Lex, Barbara W. 1978 Neurological Bases of Revitalization. Zygon 13: 276–312.
Luborsky, Lester, Singer, Barton and Luborsky, Lise. 1975 Comparative Studies of Psychotherapies. Archives of General Psychiatry 32: 995–1008.
Maduro, Renaldo. 1975 Hoodoo Possession in San Francisco. Ethos 3: 425–447.
Marshall, Eliot. 1980a Psychotherapy Faces Test of Worth. Science 207: 35–36.
Marshall, Eliot. 1980b Psychotherapy Works, but for Whom? Science 207: 506–508.
Maupin, Edward W. 1969 On Meditation. In Altered States of Consciousness. Edited by Charles T. Tart. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
May, Phillip R. A. 1976 Rational Treatment for an Irrational Disorder: What Does the Schizophrenic Patient Need? American Journal Psychiatry 133: 1008–1012.
McAuliffe, William E. 1979 Measuring the Quality of Medical Care: Process Versus Outcome. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly Health and Society 57: 118–152.
McCreery, John L. 1979 Potential and Effective Meaning in Therapeutic Ritual. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 3: 53–72.
Mechanic, David. 1976 Sex, Illness Behavior and the Use of Health Services. Research and Analytic Report Series #2-76. University of Wisconsin, Madison. (Center for Medical Sociology and Health Services Research.)
Melzack, Ronald and Campbell, Percy. 1975 Self-Regulation of Pain: The Use of Alpha-Feedback and Hypnotic Training for the Control of Chronic Pain. Experimental Neurology 46: 452–469.
Messing, Simon D. 1958 Group Therapy and Social Status in the Zar Cult in Ethiopia. American Anthropologist 60: 1120–1126.
Metzger, Duane and William, Gerald. 1963 Tenejapa Medicine: The Curer. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 19: 216–234.
Ness, Robert C. 1980 The Impact of Indigeneous Healing Activity, an Emperical Study of Two Fundamentalist Churches. Social Science and Medicine 148: 167–180.
Pelletier, Kenneth R. 1979 Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer. New York: Delta Book.
Rhein Jr., Reginald W. 1980 Placebo: Deception or Potent Therapy? Medical World News 21 (February 4): 37–47.
Shapiro, A. K. 1959 The Placebo Effect in the History of Medical Treatment. Implications for Psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry 116: 298–304.
Shapiro, Arthur K. 1971 Placebo Effects in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. Edited by Allen E. Bergin and Sol L. Garfield. New York: John Willey & Sons, Inc.
Smith, Mary Lee and Glass, Gene V. 1977 Meta-Analysis of Psychotherapy Outcome Studies. American Psychologist 32: 752–760.
Sternbach, Richard A. 1974 Pain Patients. New York: Academic Press.
Stroman, Duane F. 1979 The Quick Knife: Unnecessary Surgery USA. Port Washington Kennikat Press Corp.
Strupp, Hans H. 1980a Success and Failure in Time — Limited Psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 37: 595–603.
Strupp, Hans H. 1980b Success and Failure in Time — Limited Psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 37: 708–716.
Strupp, Hans H. 1980c Success and Failure in Time — Limited Psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 37: 831–841.
Strupp, Hans H. 1980d Success and Failure in Time — Limited Psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 37: 947–954.
Susser, M. 1974 Ethical Components in the Definition of Health. International Journal of Health Services 4: 539–548.
Szasz, Thomas S. and Hollender, Marc. 1956 A Contribution to the Philosophy of Medicine. Archives of Internal Medicine 97: 1585–1592.
Torrey, E. Fuller. 1972 The Mind Game. Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists. New York: Emerson Hall.
Traux, Charles B. and Mitchell, Kevin M. 1971 Research on Certain Therapist Interpersonal Skills in Relation to Process and Outcome. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. Edited by Allen E. Bergin and Sol L. Garfield. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Turner, Victor W. 1967 The Forest of Symbols. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Turner, Victor W. 1969 The Ritual Process, Chicago: Aldine Publishing.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. 1966 Religion. New York: Random House.
Wallace, Robert and Benson, Herbert. 1970 Psychological Effects of Transcendental Meditation. Science 167: 1751–1754.
Wallace, Robert. 1972 The Physiology of Meditation. Scientific American 226: 34–90.
Weisenberg, Matisyohu. 1977, Pain and Pain Control. Psychological Bulletin. 83: 1008–1044.
Weisenberg, Matisyohu. 1980 The Regulation of Pain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 340: 102–114.
Weissman, Myrna et al. 1979 The Efficacy of Drugs and Psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy 136: 555–558.
Wolf, Eric. 1959 Sons of the Shaking Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wolff, Berthold B. 1980 Perceptions of Pain. Sciences 20: (6) 10–29.
Zborowski, Mark. 1968 People in Pain. San Francisco: Jossey Bass Inc. Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Finkler, K. Non-medical treatments and their outcomes. Cult Med Psych 5, 65–103 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00049159
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00049159