Traditional Healing and Mental Health in Nepal: A Case Study

The traditional healer can be defined as “someone who is recognized by the community in which he/she lives as competent to provide health care by using vegetable, animal and mineral substances and certain other methods based on the social, cultural and religious backgrounds as well as the prevailing knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding physical, mental and social well-being and the causation of disease and disability in the community. “When the essence of the body has been captured by some power then the healer tries to release the soul or balance the system and make it function normally. In Nepalese culture, “Dhami, Jhakri, Vaidhya, Ojha, Janne manche, Jyotish, Mata, Local priest-expert, Mollsi Saheb, Father of the church” and various experts who belong to their culture used to deal or cure the patients who suffers from illness. This paper is based on the traditional healing practices and its impact in mental health. The study was based on case study where 10 (Traditional healer-5 and client-5) participants were selected as respondent. The finding of the study highlights that most of the people suffering from mental illness prefer to approach, traditional healers first. Majority of the community members, especially people with low socio-economic status, first approach the traditional healers because they were affordable, flexible, cheaper and culturally associated with the people. People who suffer from anxiety, depression, stress, mild-to-moderate mental illness, etc used to visit traditional healers. Traditional healers are a good counselor and used to treat their clients psychologically. They are a good speaker who used to motivate their clients psychologically. They can provide psychosocial intervention which help to relieve distress and improve mild symptoms in common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. But there are a lot of limitations so they need careful training. Whereas, collaboration between traditional healers and medical professionals will be beneficial to country as both of them are focused with mental health of the people. Today the role of traditional healer tends not to attract the interest of younger generation but it is fact that they contribute greatly to people’s health. So they should be incorporated into contemporary health care provision for the betterment of the people.