Page 14 - NAMAH Oct 2015
P. 14
Namah Vol. 23, Issue 3, 15th October 2015
“The treatment given by an American The call for change
psychiatrist to his patient will be totally
different from the treatment given by an In the West, there are groups emerging who
Indian psychiatrist to his Indian patient. A want anomalous experiences to be interpreted
system that is termed abnormal in America and treated in more compassionate spiritual
need not be abnormal here in our culture”(25). ways. It feels as if a tipping-point has been
reached and gone over (27). The paradigm
The wisdom of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother around old psychiatry is changing. In the USA,
helps us understand human existence from new practitioners include the Bay Area
a more spiritual perspective. Mandala Project, which offers an innovative
recovery system for mental wellness (28).
Plural models of body and health They offer flexible, supportive environments,
which are able to respond to a wide range of
In India, medical and health professionals emotional states. A key resource for many
seemed to hold multiple models of body and people across the globe is the Mad in America
health at the same time. They accepted that website (29), which presents anti and critical
their patients used different practitioners for psychiatry research. At Massachusetts in the
their treatment, and indeed referred them to USA, the Spiritual Emergence Network (30) (Grof
religious and spiritual practitioners (26). A Foundation) was set up to offer compassionate
plurality of health-seeking strategies co- care to those who struggle to integrate a
existed contemporaneously. The population’s difficult psychedelic experience or psycho-
interpretation of their symptoms and the logical-spiritual crisis. Recently, a new group
meanings they gave both influenced the has surfaced on Facebook called Shades of
diagnosis they would accept and the treatment Awakening (31). This was hugely supportive
they were offered. to those who’d had experiences but had been
negatively diagnosed. In India there is the
In places where a Western model of mental Bapu Trust for survivors (32).
health is practised, there was usually one
dominant model: a biological interpretation There are other initiatives with international
of symptoms, and subsequent treatment links: these include the UK’s Spiritual Crisis
strategies that usually involved pharma- Network (33), which promotes understanding
cological solutions with a possibility of talking towards those going through profound
therapy. Although religion and faith were personal transformation. The Open Dialogue
frequently acknowledged, these concerned approach was effective in Finland (34) and
rituals or calendars: discrete beliefs about now there is a UK branch, which trains
human existence and health that co-existed therapists, using reflection and authentic
at the same time were rarely mentioned. listening. Soteria is a network of people in the
Globally in international healthcare, it would UK who promote a drug-free therapeutic
be very relevant for practitioners to become strategy. Now they are part of an inter-
familiar with more than one framework of national movement. Also in the UK, there are
health and body, when working with the seminars I have developed for medical
patients from minority ethnic groups. and healthcare staff to support them in re-
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