ABSTRACT
This paper describes an example of Maori healing and psychiatry working together in an Indigenous mental health context in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Each author outlines their perspectives on the context and the partnership. The case of a Maori teenager with pseudo-seizures and voice-hearing is described to illustrate the partnership in action.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This article describes the voice hearing experiences of a young Maori man, and the joint Maori healing and psychiatry assessment he received, in which the Maori healer (WN) concluded that some of the young man's experiences could be accounted for by ancestral kaitiaki (spiritual guardians). CONCLUSIONS: Kaitiaki are commonly accepted in Te Ao Maori (the Maori world) as an explanation for some types of voice hearing experiences. Collaboration between a Maori healer and a psychiatrist can offer Maori whanau (individuals and families) more appropriate mental health assessment and intervention than conventional psychiatric assessment alone when Maori spiritual experiences are suspected.
Subject(s)
Culturally Competent Care , Culture , Hallucinations/therapy , Medicine, Traditional/psychology , Patient Acceptance of Health Care/psychology , Adolescent , Hallucinations/ethnology , Humans , Male , Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , New Zealand , Spiritual Therapies/psychologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to give an overview of Maori concepts informing a collaboration between a Maori healer (NiaNia) and psychiatrist (Bush). CONCLUSIONS: Wairua (spiritual) problems can resemble psychiatric disorders or symptoms. Knowledge of relevant Maori concepts such as mauri, tapu, mana, matekite and manaakitanga may assist psychiatrists in collaborating with Maori healers and kaumatua (elders) to enable more appropriate cultural and clinical assessment, as well as helping to build rapport and clinical interactions with Maori whanau (individuals and families).
Subject(s)
Culturally Competent Care , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Health Services, Indigenous , Mental Disorders/psychology , Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , Humans , New Zealand , PsychiatryABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe a Maori traditional healing approach to assessment and treatment of distressing psychiatric symptoms in a young man. METHOD: We describe the case of a 17 year old Maori male with voice hearing and pseudoseizures and the assessment and intervention by one of the authors (WN). We report on the young man's and his family's experience of this treatment. We outline concepts from a Maori world view that illuminate an indigenous rationale for this approach. RESULTS: A single session traditional Maori healing intervention was associated with immediate resolution of this young man's psychiatric symptoms and restoration of his sense of wellbeing, despite cessation of antipsychotic treatment. He and his family felt satisfied with the cultural explanation about the origin of his distress, which was congruent with their world view. He remained well at follow-up one year later. CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration between psychiatrists and traditional Maori healing practitioners can enhance the mental health care of Maori whaiora (service users) and their families. Indigenous research is required to further evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of such joint approaches.
