Effects
of alternative healing
Published
at : December 7, 2019, Updated at : December 7, 2019 13:50
The practise
of shamanism is present in various religions and cultures across the globe.
Once regarded as a predominant healing method, in which the practitioner claims
to have channelled some form of higher spiritual energy, shamanism is a
discipline that has been followed closely by many scholars from a wide range of
disciplines. And although it is not as prevalent in the modern world, it is
claimed to be one of the oldest therapeutic approaches for healing.
In
ancient Nepali healing practices, shamans are said to identify the source of
the illnesses by feeling the pulse of the patient, chanting divine mantras,
identifying natural vibes or through other peculiar means. After identifying
the source of the ailment, clients are offered available herbal medicines by
the shamans.
While
studying the cognitive and evolutionary approach to shamanism, Harvard
anthropologist Manvir Singh linked this process of spiritual healing to a cultural evolutionary process describing
it as “a psychologically appealing method for controlling uncertainty”.
In other
words, it induces a kind of placebo effect on the recipient
of the healing process. And it’s because of this psychosomatic phenomenon that
the patient witnesses that he observes gradual improvement within their body
due to inner belief and expectations, rather than the treatment itself.
The
methods and processes during a shamanic healing process is not short of
controversies. But regardless of its ties with superstition, some regard it as
a process of healing the human body through the mind where the recipients are
themselves involved in the healing process. Although many who believe in the
shamanic healing methods may not be aware of the placebo effect, its
continuity demands
more research into it.
But what
makes the spiritual healing so influential? Medical science has no precise
answer. Medicine has experts for all odds and ends of the human body except
placebo, because it lacks empirical understanding for acclimating placebo
effect in the institutional domain.
Medical
study regards all living creatures as sophisticated machines, organs as spare
parts, infection as malfunction, which needs either correction or replacement.
In the medical world, disease is a biochemical abnormality, which needs to be
cured by chemical means. Any other procedure beyond biochemistry realm are
regarded as non-scientific.
So,
biochemistry always ignores placebo and attributes its effect to superstition,
spirit and meta-physical misconception.
According
to the placebo discourse, however, there are three bases in which placebo
effect functions—culture, meaning and belief. In every culture, no matter how
primitive or modern, there exists someone labelled as the ‘healer’. And there
remains an assumption that these healers are specialists who have the power or
are qualified to heal—which means it’s not only the act of the healer but also
the faith of the sick towards a healer’s credibility.
To give
credit to this process, some research papers have even started to describe the
pre-operative formalities in hospital as a sort of modern shamanic ritual. In
many hospitals, doctors have also been using sugar pills as a form of
placebo healing. The study carried out by researchers from the University of
Oxford and the University of Southampton found that 97 percent of doctors have
prescribed placebo treatments.
In Nepal,
owing to the thriving practice of alternative healing, extensive research
incorporating some relevant shamanic techniques in the medical field needs to
be conducted. Since our country not only possesses ancient knowledge of cosmic
healing and natural remedies but also vaults rare herbal medicine, it can open
new doors to natural healing remedies.
Poudyal is a freelance
writer and researcher.
