Navajo Use of Native Healers
Open Access
- 9 November 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of internal medicine (1960)
- Vol. 158 (20) , 2245-2249
- https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.158.20.2245
Abstract
NAVAJO traditionally received treatment for illness from native healers or "medicine men." As in a conventional medical care system, many different types of practitioner exist; these range from diagnosticians such as hand tremblers, crystal gazers, and "listeners," to individuals who perform healing ceremonies involving herbs, balms, and purgatives.1 Native healers have been the focus of extensive ethnographic study by anthropologists, psychiatrists, and physicians1-5 but the prevalence and frequency of use of native healers among Navajo have not been described. The Navajo are also eligible for extensive free health care services through the Indian Health Service (IHS). It is not clear if conventional medical care provided by IHS physicians conflicts with the recommendations of native healers.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Use of alternative health care by family practice patientsArchives of Family Medicine, 1997
- Complementary and alternative medicine and asthmaClinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 1996
- Ancillary Use of Folk Medicine by Patients in Primary Care Clinics in Southwestern West VirginiaSouthern Medical Journal, 1986