Opinion
Courtesy Gesunheit! Institute
Dr. Carl A. Hammerschlag (left) returns to Iquitos, Peru, where he and his team of clinicians incorporate aspects of Latin culture to deliver mental health services.
I gave her an amulet that had been blessed by Navajo and Huichol shaman and said I wanted her to hold onto it during tomorrow’s morning prayers; she would feel our blessings and remember this miraculous day that we found one another. Perhaps tomorrow she could promise herself to also live for another day.
After the clinic, I couldn’t get her out of my mind, so after dinner I asked my clinic coordinator to check in on her the next day. We were going to be conducting another clinic not far from her home in a few days, and I asked her to invite Maria to the next clinic and to please bring her daughter, too.
Maria showed up not only with her 6-months’ pregnant daughter, but also with her younger 18-year-old daughter. Together, they told me the rest of the story. Both girls had been raped (the younger more than a year ago), and both by different maternal uncles. They had never spoken about it to anyone outside of their family, and although Maria had confronted her brothers, she refused to press charges. This is not a culture in which women prosecute their rapists.
Before we ended, I gave both girls an amulet and blessed the family; whatever they faced, they would face it better together; their love for one another would be showered on this new baby, and they would carry our blessings with them and those of many relatives all over the world.
In most Latin cultures, there is a strong belief in the power of spells, curses, and witchcraft, as well as in traditional healing practices and the power of faith. A critical element for successful healing in all cultures is the patient’s belief in the practice and in the practitioner.
As mental health professionals, we magnify our power not only with the pills we prescribe, but in also with the blessings and amulets we may bestow. And it doesn’t take a long time to connect at the soul level if you are actively in the moment, and it is in those miraculous moments that we are reminded of our shared humanity. Imagine if we used our 15-minute medication reviews to actually connect with people at this heartfelt level and talked about what’s really important to them. I’m thinking we could reduce our prescription writing by half and be reminded of the joys of psychotherapy.
Dr. Hammerschlag is chief of community mental health at the Gesundheit! Institute. He is also the author of several books on healing and spirituality, including Kindling Spirit: Healing from Within (New York: Turtle Island Press, 2012) and The Dancing Healers: A Doctor’s Journey of Healing With Native Americans (San Francisco: Harper, 1988). Dr. Hammerschlag’s website is healingdoc.com.