ABSTRACT

This edited volume focuses on the role of traditional or indigenous healers, as well as the application of traditional healing practices in contemporary counseling and therapeutic modalities with Latina/o people. The book offers a broad coverage of important topics, such as traditional healer’s views of mental/psychological health and well-being, the use of traditional healing techniques in contemporary psychotherapy, and herbal remedies in psychiatric practice. It also discusses common factors across traditional healing methods and contemporary psychotherapies, the importance of spirituality in counseling and everyday life, the application of indigenous healing practices with Latina/o undergraduates, indigenous techniques in working with perpetrators of domestic violence, and religious healing systems and biomedical models. The book is an important reference for anyone working within the general field of mental health practice and those seeking to understand culturally relevant practice with Latina/o populations.

part |2 pages

Part One: Mestiza/o and Indigenous Perspectives

chapter 1|26 pages

What Is Indigenous About Being Indigenous? The Mestiza/o Experience

ByJOSEPH M. CERVANTES

chapter 2|34 pages

Latina/o Folk Saints and Marian Devotions: Popular Religiosity and Healing

ByFERNANDO A. ORTIZ, KENNETH G. DAVIS

chapter 3|18 pages

Santería and the Healing Process in Cuba and the United States

ByBRIAN W. MCNEILL, EILEEN ESQUIVEL, ARLENE CARRASCO, ROSALILIA MENDOZA

part |2 pages

Part Two: Indigenous and Mestiza/o Healing Practices

chapter 4|56 pages

The Use of Psychotropic Herbal and Natural Medicines in Latina/o and Mestiza/o Populations

ByGERMAN ASCANI, MICHAEL W. SMITH

chapter 5|36 pages

Brazil’s Ultimate Healing Resource: The Power of Spirit

BySANDRA NUÑEZ

chapter 6|20 pages

La Limpia de San Lazaro as Individual and Collective Cleansing Rite

ByKAREN V. HOLLIDAY

chapter 7|26 pages

Resé un Ave María y Encendí una Velita: The Use of Spirituality and Religion as a Means of Coping with Educational Experiences for

ByLatina/o College Students JEANETT CASTELLANOS AND ALBERTA M. GLORIA

part |2 pages

Part Three: Contemporary Aspects of Mestiza/o and Indigenous Healing Practices: Reclamation and Integration

chapter 8|26 pages

Los Espiritus Siguen Hablando: Chicana Spiritualities

ByLARA MEDINA

chapter 9|22 pages

Religious Healing and Biomedicine in Comparative Context

ByComparative Context KAREN V. HOLLIDAY

chapter 10|30 pages

Curanderismo: Religious and Spiritual Traditions

ByWorldviews and Indigenous Healing FERNANDO A. ORTIZ, KENNETH G. DAVIS, AND BRIAN W. MCNEILL