PMID- 11224980
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20010329
LR  - 20191104
IS  - 0745-5194 (Print)
IS  - 0745-5194 (Linking)
VI  - 14
IP  - 4
DP  - 2000 Dec
TI  - Rethinking the role of diagnosis in Navajo religious healing.
PG  - 543-70
AB  - Diagnosis plays a central, primary role in the therapeutic process across 
      cultures. In this article, the authors examine the role of diagnosis in two 
      Navajo religious healing traditions, the Traditional Navajo religion and the 
      Native American Church (NAC), and examine a case study of a diagnostic encounter 
      between an NAC diagnostician and a Traditional patient. The authors assert that, 
      for Navajos, diagnosis is not merely a prescriptive rite that passively initiates 
      the therapeutic process (as it has been seen in the Navajo literature) but can 
      itself constitute a cure. Claims made about the similarity between Western 
      psychotherapy and religious healing both by scholars and by the healer and 
      patient in this case study are investigated. The authors conclude that such an 
      analogy must be seen against the backdrop of Navajo beliefs about thought, 
      speech, and health. Viewing diagnosis as a "talking cure" and an example of 
      Good's concept of "narrativizing" illness (things it shares with Western 
      psychotherapy) suggests why the analogy is appealing for Navajos themselves.
FAU - Milne, D
AU  - Milne D
AD  - Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
FAU - Howard, W
AU  - Howard W
LA  - eng
PT  - Case Reports
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
PL  - United States
TA  - Med Anthropol Q
JT  - Medical anthropology quarterly
JID - 8405037
RN  - RHO99102VC (Mescaline)
SB  - IM
CIN - Med Anthropol Q. 2000 Dec;14(4):598-602. PMID: 11224982
MH  - Adult
MH  - Anecdotes as Topic
MH  - Anthropology, Cultural
MH  - Attitude to Health
MH  - *Christianity
MH  - Communication
MH  - *Diagnosis, Differential
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Indians, North American/*psychology
MH  - Language
MH  - Mental Healing/*psychology
MH  - Mescaline/therapeutic use
MH  - *Religion and Medicine
MH  - *Shamanism
MH  - Social Change
MH  - Southwestern United States
RF  - 54
EDAT- 2001/02/28 10:00
MHDA- 2001/04/03 10:01
CRDT- 2001/02/28 10:00
PHST- 2001/02/28 10:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2001/04/03 10:01 [medline]
PHST- 2001/02/28 10:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1525/maq.2000.14.4.543 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Med Anthropol Q. 2000 Dec;14(4):543-70. doi: 10.1525/maq.2000.14.4.543.