Healing is often discussed but infrequently studied. Schenck and Churchill provide a systematic approach to the elements that make clinician-patient interactions themselves a source of healing, based on comprehensive interviews with 50 physicians and alternative practitioners. The authors present a compelling picture of how healing happens in the practices of extraordinary clinicians.

This exceptional book responds to the intense current interest in defining and understanding the contribution of traditional medical knowledge and the intervention techniques of traditional healers to national mental health services around the world. First book on traditional healing and transcultural psychiatry Delineates the knowledge and clinical skills of traditional healers from diverse cultural areas around the world Describes the clinical and social roles of traditional healers in their communities and the challenges of constructing national mental health programs that include traditional knowledge and healing techniques Assesses issues on efficacy and safety of traditional healers' interventions Includes contributions from leading scholars in this field from South Africa, India, New Zealand, Andorra, Canada, USA, Italy, and the Quichua and Sioux Lakota Nations of South and North America Theme of culture versus science: The psychiatrists discuss the effects of local culture upon mental health and consider the impact, benefit and incorporation of traditional healing as a tool for the clinical psychiatrist. Easy to use with case studies and vignettes throughout and a glossary to explain any technical terms Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of a wide array of mental health trainees, researchers and professionals interested in cultural psychiatry in general and the role of traditional healers around the world.

This exceptional book responds to the intense current interest in defining and understanding the contribution of traditional medical knowledge and the intervention techniques of traditional healers to national mental health services around the world. First book on traditional healing and transcultural psychiatry Delineates the knowledge and clinical skills of traditional healers from diverse cultural areas around the world Describes the clinical and social roles of traditional healers in their communities and the challenges of constructing national mental health programs that include traditional knowledge and healing techniques Assesses issues on efficacy and safety of traditional healers' interventions Includes contributions from leading scholars in this field from South Africa, India, New Zealand, Andorra, Canada, USA, Italy, and the Quichua and Sioux Lakota Nations of South and North America Theme of culture versus science: The psychiatrists discuss the effects of local culture upon mental health and consider the impact, benefit and incorporation of traditional healing as a tool for the clinical psychiatrist Easy to use with case studies and vignettes throughout and a glossary to explain any technical terms Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of a wide array of mental health trainees, researchers and professionals interested in cultural psychiatry in general and the role of traditional healers around the world.

A bold, expert, and actionable map for the re-invention of America’s broken mental health care system. “Healing is truly one of the best books ever written about mental illness, and I think I’ve read them all." —Pete Earley, author of Crazy As director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel was giving a presentation when the father of a boy with schizophrenia yelled from the back of the room, “Our house is on fire and you’re telling me about the chemistry of the paint! What are you doing to put out the fire?” Dr. Insel knew in his heart that the answer was not nearly enough. The gargantuan American mental health industry was not healing millions who were desperately in need. He left his position atop the mental health research world to investigate all that was broken—and what a better path to mental health might look like. In the United States, we have treatments that work, but our system fails at every stage to deliver care well. Even before COVID, mental illness was claiming a life every eleven minutes by suicide. Quality of care varies widely, and much of the field lacks accountability. We focus on drug therapies for symptom reduction rather than on plans for long-term recovery. Care is often unaffordable and unavailable, particularly for those who need it most and are homeless or incarcerated. Where was the justice for the millions of Americans suffering from mental illness? Who was helping their families? But Dr. Insel also found that we do have approaches that work, both in the U.S. and globally. Mental illnesses are medical problems, but he discovers that the cures for the crisis are not just medical, but social. This path to healing, built upon what he calls the three Ps (people, place, and purpose), is more straightforward than we might imagine. Dr. Insel offers a comprehensive plan for our failing system and for families trying to discern the way forward. The fruit of a lifetime of expertise and a global quest for answers, Healing is a hopeful, actionable account and achievable vision for us all in this time of mental health crisis.

Prevention of mental illness and mental health promotion have often been ignored in the past, both in undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. Recently, however, there has been a clear shift towards public mental health, as a result of increasing scientific evidence that both these actions have a serious potential to reduce the onset of illness and subsequent burden as a result of mental illness and related social, economic and political costs. A clear distinction between prevention of mental illness and mental health promotion is critical. Selective prevention, both at societal and individual level, is an important way forward. The Oxford Textbook of Public Mental Health brings together the increasing interest in public mental health and the growing emphasis on the prevention of mental ill health and promotion of well-being into a single comprehensive textbook. Comprising international experiences of mental health promotion and mental well-being, chapters are supplemented with practical examples and illustrations to provide the most relevant information succinctly. This book will serve as an essential resource for mental and public health professionals, as well as for commissioners of services, nurses and community health visitors.

In this book, the authors highlight the importance of eliminating health disparities and increasing the access of Native Americans to critical substance abuse and mental health services. While most chapters are framed in scientific terms, they are concerned with promoting healing through changes in the way we treat our sick-spiritually, traditionally, ceremonially, and scientifically-whether in rural areas, on reservations, and in cities. The book will be a valuable resource for medical and mental health professionals, medical anthropologists, and the Native health community. Visit our website for sample chapters!

This Plunkett Lake Press eBook is produced by arrangement with Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. “Health is natural; sickness is unnatural: at least so it seems to man,” is how Stefan Zweig begins his fascinating, often entertaining examinations of Franz Anton Mesmer, Mary Baker Eddy, and Sigmund Freud. “Bodily suffering is not assuaged by technical manipulation but through an act of faith.” Mental Healers is dedicated to Albert Einstein, the scientist who had won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. It first appeared in 1931 as Die Heilung durch den Geist, orHealing Through the Spirit, a title that anticipates our current interest in alternative medicine and the placebo effect. Zweig’s first healer, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), was a German physician who introduced “animal magnetism” to the world. Viewed by many as a charlatan, he died an outcast before he could properly understand and explain his discovery. Zweig’s second healer, Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), was a New England matron who found her vocation only in middle age. She established Christian Science, an American Protestant system of religious practice that rejects medical intervention, when she was almost 60. Zweig’s third healer, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was the Viennese Jewish physician who founded psychoanalysis. Zweig, who knew Freud and delivered a eulogy at his funeral, describes Freud’s then-new ideas with the insight of an artist who lived in the same time and place. Fluently written and psychologically astute, Mental Healers is compelling cultural history and a valuable window onto the genesis of new ideas in healing. “Mesmer, Eddy and Freud were critical figures alerting the modern world to the influences of the mental and emotional on health and illness. Their impact was tremendous and Zweig's classic study provides a wonderful opportunity to engage with these significant innovators.” — Ted Kaptchuk, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director, Program in Placebo Studies & Therapeutic Encounter