Latina O Healing Practices

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.

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.

"The Latino folk pharmacopoeia is one of the largest and richest on earth. Drawing on a centuries-old culture of healing traditions, informed by a deep reverence for history, this marvelous resource gives a vivid, balanced look at Latino folk medicine as practiced across America. Inside you will meet the lay healers, curanderos, who prescribe for the sick, visit the botanicas that sell hundreds of medicinal plant products, and learn all about the folk remedy tradition, including how ginger can soothe an upset stomach; anise keeps colic under control; kalallo bush treats the common cold; and embauba works as an astringent on dry skin." "Each botanical profile lists the scientific and common names, where the plant is grown and its physical characteristics, traditional uses, availablility and dosages, and contraindications and special precautions. It is important to note that herbs should be taken only after consulting your physician."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Latina Healers casts new light on the centrality of gender and migration status on the lives of Latina women. Encompassing the idiosyncrasies of individual decisions and the social context of the healers' lives, this book presents an original analysis of the relationship between gender, power, religious beliefs and social status. It brings the scholarship on life narratives together with understandings of the impact of migration and traditional beliefs on the lives of these women. Heralding women not as passive victims of social forces, but as active and creative agents of their lives, the book's findings are valuable for mental health practitioners, feminist scholars, and all interested in the lives of Latinas."

The Art of Healing Latinos collects the wisdom of health professionals who have particular expertise in treating Latino patients. Their knowledge comes from many years of service in fields that range from pediatrics to geriatrics, oncology to psychology. Uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between the world of American medicine and the traditions of Latino culture, these physicians, researchers, administrators, and activists offer insight and advice to all who provide, or aspire to provide, health services to the Latino community.

Healing with Herbs and Rituals is an herbal remedy-based understanding of curanderismo and the practice of yerberas, or herbalists, as found in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Part One, "Folk Healers and Folk Healing," focuses on individual healers and their procedures. Part Two, "Green Medicine: Traditional Mexican-American Herbs and Remedies," details traditional Mexican-American herbs and cures. These remedies are the product of centuries of experience in Mexico, heavily influenced by the Moors, Judeo-Christians, and Aztecs, and include everyday items such as lemon, egg, fire, aromatic oil, and prepared water. Symbolic objects such as keys, candles, brooms, and Trouble Dolls are also used. Dedicated, in part, to curanderos throughout Mexico and the American Southwest, Healing with Herbs and Rituals shows us these practitioners are humble, sincere people who have given themselves to improving lives for many decades. Today's holistic health movement has rediscovered the timeless merits of the curanderos' uses of medicinal plants, rituals, and practical advice.

Patrisia Gonzales addresses "Red Medicine" as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in Red Medicine as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant ith in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples. For Gonzales, a central guiding force in Red Medicine is the principal of regeneration as it is manifested in Spiderwoman. Dating to Pre-Columbian times, the Mesoamerican Weaver/Spiderwoman--the guardian of birth, medicine, and purification rites such as the Nahua sweat bath--exemplifies the interconnected process of rebalancing that transpires throughout life in mental, spiritual and physical manifestations. Gonzales also explains how dreaming is a form of diagnosing in traditional Indigenous medicine and how Indigenous concepts of the body provide insight into healing various kinds of trauma. Gonzales links pre-Columbian thought to contemporary healing practices by examining ancient symbols and their relation to current curative knowledges among Indigenous peoples. Red Medicine suggests that Indigenous healing systems can usefully point contemporary people back to ancestral teachings and help them reconnect to the dynamics of the natural world.

Essential reading for health and mental health administrators, community agencies, and policy makers as well as students and general interest readers, this book details the state of the physical and mental health of many Latina/o American groups. While Latina/o Americans originate from more than 25 countries, most health or mental health texts largely focus on Mexican Americans and often fail to address other Latina/o groups, such as South Americans, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others. Moreover, most works address either health or mental health, but not both together. In contrast, Latina/o American Health and Mental Health addresses both the health and mental health of diverse Latina/o heritage groups. An interdisciplinary approach enables readers to identify both similar and divergent areas that affect the health and mental health of Latina/o Americans. Strengths-based and social justice perspectives, rather than a deficit perspective, guide the work in its assessment of disparities among treatment for different groups. This text is ideal for graduate students, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in public health, community health, family studies, psychology, counseling, social work, and Latina/o studies who are interested in understanding Latina/o health and mental health in the United States and providing culturally responsive services.