How spiritual healing works: emic and etic points of view Monday, February 4th, 2002

Emic etiologies of sickness, 1 n Going to a diviner or specialist n Failure to control spirit possession –response: “domesticate” spirit n Unsettled relations with the dead –neglect (response: make offerings) –breaking ancestral rules (response: perform sacrifice) n soul-loss –response: seek out and retrieve soul

Emic etiologies of sickness, 2 n Attacks by evil spirits, witches –response: send spirits to battle attackers; identify witches and neutralize n exposure to evil eye, negative energies/fluids –response: sweep away evil fluids n intrusive sorcery attacks –response: extract the evil intrusions

Etic 1: psycho-analytic theory n Psychoanalyst Thomas Scheff’s theory, advanced in his Catharsis in Healing, Ritual and Drama (1979) n Applying theory to Dale’s case n Example from Professor Burdick’s own experience

Etic 2: theory of placebo effect n From Latin placere, “to please” n any positive physiological effect of an intervention that results from the patient’s belief in the power of the intervention. n Frank (1985) estimates that 40-60% of effectiveness of biomedicine due to placebo

Placebo effects n Pain reduction (Lewis, Gordon, and Field 1988) –lowered anxiety associated with increased pain tolerance, and with release of endogenous endorphins (analgesics) n Heightened immune response (Akil and Watson 1978) –lowered anxiety reduces blood pressure –lowered blood pressure enhances ability to fight infection and absorb vitamins and minerals n Further reading: Michael Jospe, The Placebo Effect in Healing (Heath, 1978)

Etic 3: Sociological theory n Effects of gathering together supporters –reduction of feelings of isolation and helplessness decrease stress and anxiety, alleviate symptoms (McGuire 1989) n Effects of perceived alteration in behavior of significant others –Social stressor (in-laws’ disapproval) removed from barren Ndembu woman

What if the healer fails to heal? –The offending spirit may be unexpectedly tenacious; a healer with a solid reputation will not lose it –the healer may not yet be sufficiently well- developed –the initial diagnosis may have been faulty: other diagnoses will be tried (e.g., a curse; spell; witchcraft; wrath of a nature or house spirit, the anger of an ancestor) –healer may be deemed incompetent