Traditional & folk healing

Depending on the culture, people may turn to community healers, elders, faith healers, shamans or spiritual healers. In Latin American communities, people may speak of a curandero or curandera. In Hmong communities, of a shaman.

A review of research on susto, a Latin American way of naming distress after a fright, found healing often included prayer, ritual cleansing, calling back the lost soul and family taking part. Indigenous traditions describe stories, songs, prayers and ceremonies as ways to promote wellbeing.

Traditional healing is not frozen in the past. Communities adapt practices to new places and times, and many people blend traditions from more than one culture. What matters is what is meaningful and safe for you.

A review of 138 studies found “thinking too much” usually means worried, looping or unwanted thoughts. People linked it with tiredness, poor sleep, headaches, low appetite, trouble concentrating and pulling away from others.

People often cope by distracting themselves, talking with others or seeking religious support. The review warns it is not simply another word for depression, and that it can point to real problems, like money worries or troubled relationships.

Susto is described as distress that follows a fright, sometimes understood as the soul leaving the body. People describe headaches, sleep problems, weakness and stomach trouble, and sometimes sadness or fear.

Researchers found susto overlaps with other conditions but has its own meaning. They suggest clinicians ask about it, use familiar images and include family in healing.

People in many cultures speak of a heavy heart, “nerves” or a troubled mind, or describe distress through headaches and tiredness. These are real and meaningful ways of expressing pain.

Researchers recommend that care use local phrases for distress, both to understand people better and because these words often carry less stigma than clinical labels.

A healer from your own community already understands how your culture explains distress. You don’t need to translate your experience into clinical terms.

Healers are often part of the community, known for years and easier to reach than distant clinics. Families may already trust them.

If you understand distress as partly spiritual, care that addresses the spirit can feel more complete. Reviews note traditional healing can ease milder distress and offer social support.

Some communities have a history of being treated unfairly by health systems. Stigma and language barriers can add to this, making a community healer feel safer.

In several traditions, healing includes ceremonies to call a frightened or lost soul back. Research on susto describes soul-calling rituals, often with family. Hmong shamans perform soul-calling ceremonies, and one California hospital welcomes them at the bedside.

Many cultures honour ancestors through altars, offerings, prayers and remembrance days. For many people, this brings comfort, belonging and a sense of being part of a longer story.

Some people worry a provider will dismiss spiritual explanations. A culturally responsive provider will ask what you believe is happening and respect it, while also checking on your safety and health.

Mercy Medical Center in Merced, California, created a certification program for Hmong shamans. Certified shamans can perform nine approved ceremonies in a patient’s room, and learn about how the hospital works. More than 150 shamans have been trained.

Staff describe the shamans as gatekeepers who help families trust hospital care. Graduates often encourage patients to see doctors too.

A 2025 review found that shared care between healers and health workers improved symptoms compared with usual care, increased referrals to clinics, and that training healers was linked with fewer harmful practices.

The review also notes the research is young: only six independent studies, mostly small and mostly in Africa.

Native-led guidance honours ceremonies and traditional healers as part of wellbeing, and says Tribes are the experts on their own traditions. Some clinics offer traditional healing alongside counseling.

• They are open about what they will do, and why
• They encourage you to see a doctor too when needed
• They never use force
• They respect your right to say no
• You can stop at any time

• Asking for large or growing sums of money
• Keeping you from family, friends or doctors
• Promising a cure for a serious illness
• Telling you to stop treatment from your clinical provider
• Using physical force, restraint or punishment

Some traditional care includes things you swallow, drink or put on your body. These can interact with other treatment or affect your health.

• “Can my family or healer be part of my care, if I want that?”
• “Have you worked with people who use traditional healing?”
• “How will you respect my beliefs about what is causing this?”
• “Is there anything I use that you’d like to know about for safety?”

Researchers say providers who don’t understand people’s own ideas about distress can make care harder to follow. Asking about these ideas, and using familiar images and family support, can help.

U.S. standards say health organizations should offer language help at no cost and use trained interpreters, not children or untrained people.

• Ask before joining any ceremony, and follow local protocols
• Learn from organizations and authors from that culture
• Remember that each community is different

• Avoid casual use of sacred words, like “spirit animal”
• Avoid calling someone’s beliefs superstition
• Don’t buy or join ceremonies offered by outsiders claiming another culture’s traditions
• Don’t share sacred practices you were trusted with

• “What do you think is behind how you’ve been feeling?”
• “What has the healer suggested?”
• “What would help you most right now?”

• Help find a provider who respects their culture
• Offer to go with them to appointments
• Say: “You can keep seeing the healer and also see a doctor.”

• They are being held, hurt or restrained
• They are not eating, drinking or sleeping for days
• They talk about suicide or not wanting to live
• They have stopped treatment for a serious illness