Indigenous Healing Practices

DISCUSSION This section will discuss the Cordilleran indigenous healing practices along the different theories in Psychology in terms of the search for human fullness. Moreover, this section will discuss the Cordilleran indigenous healing practices along a culture-specific point of view as well as cross-cultural point of view or worldview. Furthermore, this section will discuss the integrative and holistic application of Cordilleran indigenous healing practices in the practice of Psychology as well as medicine.

Search for Human Fullness Human beings are innately driven to undergo the conquest of searching for human fullness due to the fact that no human being avoids the inescapable experience of limitation and brokenness (Janetius, 2015).

But regardless of the point of view that one believes in, one thing is common, the fullness is the ultimate goal of a certain individual.

Culture-Specific View on Cordillera Indigenous Healing Practices Cordillera indigenous healing practices are a pure and authentic Filipino practice. For this reason, it should first be examined in a culture-specific viewpoint in Psychology in order for it to be understood. Cordillera indigenous healing practices among other Filipino indigenous healing practices are one of the forms in which our pre-Spanish medico-religious system of beliefs and practices continue to thrive and survive. Moreover, Salazar (1979) said in his works that:

“the continuity in the practice of indigenous healing among Filipinos can be traced historically along an apparently continuous line of filiations, either through survivals among our ethnic minorities or through preservation in the lowland areas as a result of the inability of the friars to suppress native beliefs or the intensity with which these were lived and revitalized in the succession of rebellious and messianic movements before and after the

One western viewpoint explanation of the practice of indigenous healing among Cordillerans can be traced to the Ernest Becker’s work entitled “Denial of Death”. Becker (n.d.) mentioned that the human psyche cannot really bear the knowledge of death, and that one of the primary psychological functions of human civilization is to provide an elaborate, symbolic defense mechanism to deny the inevitability of death. Hence, the practice of Cordilleran indigenous healing is a type of symbolic mechanism that is geared towards denying the pain and the inevitability of death. Another western viewpoint which may explain the practice of indigenous healing among Cordillerans is the so-called Placebo effect. The placebo effect is the beneficial effects that derive from the context of the clinical encounter, including the ritual of treatment and the clinician-patient relationship, as distinct from therapeutic benefits produced by the specific or characteristic pharmacological or physiological effects of medical interventions (Miller, Colloca, & Kaptchuk, 2009). Hence, the healing effect of the Cordilleran indigenous healing practices is simply a result of placebo