Spiritist centers are found in many countries. There are actually 70 Spiritist centers in the US, however, there are over 12,000 in Brazil where 1/5th of the population (20-40 million people) will go when they are looking for healing.
Emma Bragdon explains to us why the use of spirituality in mental healthcare is so much more accepted in Brazil than in our American culture. Brazilians intermarried with the indigenous people of Brazil as well as with the Africans who first came to Brazil as slaves; thus, beliefs from indigenous spiritual traditions became more integrated into Brazilian culture.
We observed that the highly-trained Spiritist mediums in the Spiritist Psychiatric Hospital we visited in Goiania worked in teams collaborating with the psychiatrists and psychologists. Much like the Shamans in indigenous cultures, most of those Spiritist mediums had previously experienced extreme mental disturbance themselves. They knew the territory, had healed from their own wounds, and then acquired the necessary training to help others. Their spiritual perspective is acknowledged as equally important to the patient’s treatment as the biological and psycho-social dimensions of diagnosis and care. There wasn’t a feeling of rigid hierarchy that one finds in the strict bio-medical model where the MDs have the most authority. We were told that the Brazilian people in the Goiania area have a strong preference for the Spiritist Psychiatric Hospital there as it has the best outcomes.
Next we will talk to a Brazilian psychiatrist and medium to learn more about how the practice is integrated into the hospitals.
