In the current study, we address the therapeutic components and the effectiveness of integrative psychiatry with transpersonal regression therapy as alterna tive and complementary medicine. The treatment of a man with therapy-resistant bipolar disorder was successful with this approach. The process in which the therapist analyses the issues found by the patient in cultural explanations like reincarnation, curse and spirit possession is described. During the therapeutic sessions, different subpersonalities manifested and negotiation with these subpersonalities succeeded in integrating them or removing them from the mainstream personality of the patient resulting in his transformation.
KeywordsIntegrative PsychiatryComplementary and Alternative MedicineTranspersonal Regression TherapyBipolar DisorderCultural ExplanationsSpirituality
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Anand, J. (2009). Psychological Healing and Faith in the Doctrine of Karma. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 12, 817-832. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674670903020889
Baldwin, W. J. (2005). Spirit Releasement Therapy. A Technique Manual. Headline Books & Co.
Barrett, B. (2003). Alternative, Complementary, and Conventional Medicine: Is Integration Upon Us? Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 9, 417-427. https://doi.org/10.1089/107555303765551642
Bhopal, N. (2013). Complementary and Alternative Medicine: What Does It Mean for Psychiatry? The Residents Journal, 8, 1-4.
Bidwell, D. R. (2001). A Competency Approach to Healing “Past Life Trauma”. American Journal of Pastoral Counseling, 4, 5-17. https://doi.org/10.1300/J062v04n01_02
Binderhagel, H. R. (2014). Woordbreuksyndroom: Een psychoneuro-endocriene benadering van fyo fyo programmering. Prismaprint.
Bourguignon, E. (2004). Possession and Trance. In C. Ember, & M. Ember (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Medical Anthroplogy. Health and Illness in the World’s Cultures (pp. 137-145). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_15
Cardeña, E., Van Duijl, M., Weiner, L., & Terhune, D. (2009). Possession/Trance Phenomena. In P. Dell, & J. O’Neil (Eds.), Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders: DSM-V and Beyond (pp. 171-181). Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
Carvalho, A. F., Firth, J, & Vieta, E. (2020). Bipolar Disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine, 383, 58-66. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1906193
Cohen, E. (2008). What Is Spirit Possession? Defining, Comparing and Explaining Two Possession Forms. Ethnos, 73, 101-126. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141840801927558
Crabtree, A. (1996). Therapy for Possession. In W. Lucas Blake (Red.), Regression Therapy. A Handbook for Professionals (Vol. II, p. 328). Deep Forest Press.
De Boer, W. (1999). De ojha. De positie van de hindoestaanse trancemedia in de Surinaamse samenleving (pp. 155-167). OSO.
De Jong, J. (2012). Een culturele visie op het verschijnsel hallucineren. In H. P. Verhagen (Ed.), Handboek psychiatrie, religie en spiritualiteit (pp. 259-274). De Tijdstroom.
De Jong, J. T., & Reis, R. (2010). Kiyang-Yang, a West-African Postwar Idiom of Distress. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 34, 301-321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-010-9178-7
De Jong, J., & Reis, R. (2013). Collective Trauma Processing: Dissociation as a Way of Processing Postwar Traumatic Stress in Guinea Bissau. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50, 644-661 https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461513500517
De Klerk, C. J. (1951). Cultus en ritueel van het Orthodoxe Hindoeïsme in Suriname. Amrit.
Dow, J. (1986). Universal Aspects of Symbolic Healing: A theoretical Synthesis. American Anthropologist, 88, 56-69. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1986.88.1.02a00040
Fiore, E. (1987). The Unquiet Dead. A Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession. Ballantine Books.
Fiore, E. (1996). Regression Therapy: A Handbook for Professionals (Vol. II, B. L. Winifred, Ed.). Deep Forest Press.
Foster, M. G. (1976). Disease Etiologies in Non-Western Medical Systems. American Anthropologist, 78, 783-782. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1976.78.4.02a00030
Gomez, E. (1982). Voodoo and Sudden Death. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 19, 75-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/136346158201900201
Hatala, A. R. (2012). The Status of the “Biopsychosocial” Model in Health Psychology: Towards an Integrated Approach and a Critique of Cultural Conceptions. Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 1, 51-62. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojmp.2012.14009
Hatala, A. R. (2013). Towards a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Approach in Health Psychology: Exploring Theoretical Orientations and Future Directions. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 15, 256-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/19349637.2013.776448
Herskovits, M. J., & Herskovits, F. S. (1936). Suriname Folklore. Columbia University Press. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/hers005suri01_01/colofon.htm
Hoenders, H. J. (2014). Integrative Psychiatry. Foundation, Implementation and Effectiveness. Proefschrift, Universiteit van Groningen.
Hoffer, C. (2012). Religieuze tradities, volksgeloof en religieuze geneeswijzen in multicultureel Nederland: Implicaties voor de GGZ-praktijk. In P. Verhagen, & H. V. Megen (Eds.), Handboek Psychiatrie, religie en spiritualiteit. De Tijdstroom.
Kasprow, M., & Scotton, B. (1999). A Review of Transpersonal Theory and Its Application to the Practice of Psychotherapy. The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 8, 12-23.
Kirmayer, L. (2004). The Cultural Diversity of Healing: Meaning, Metaphor and Mechanism. British Medical Bulletin, 69, 33-48. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldh006
Kirmayer, L. (2006). Toward a Medicine of the Imagination. New Literary History, 37, 583-605. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2006.0046
Kirmayer, L. (2007). Psychotherapy and the Cultural Concept of the Person. Transcultural Psychiatry, 44, 232-257. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461506070794
Kleinman, A. (1977). Depression, Somatization and the “New Cross-Cultural Psychiatry”. Social Science & Medicine (1967), 11, 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/0037-7856(77)90138-X
Kleinman, A. (1978). Concepts and a Model for the Comparison of Medical Systems as Cultural Systems. Social Science & Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology, 12, 85-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7987(78)90014-5
Kleinman, A. (2013). From Illness as Culture to Caregiving as Moral Experience. New England Journal of Medicine, 368, 1376-1377. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1300678
Knight, Z. G. (1998). Healing Stories of the Unconscious: Past-Life Imagery in Transpersonal Psychotherapy. Rhodes University.
Laher, S. (2014). An Overview of Illness Conceptualizations in African, Hindu and Islamic Traditions: Towards Cultural Competence. South African Journal of Psychology, 44, 191-204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246314528149
Lewis, I. (2003). Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203241080
Meyersburg, C. A., Bogdan, R., Gallo, D. A., & Mc Nally, R. J. (2009). False Memory Propensity in People Reporting Recovered Memories of Past Lives. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 399-404. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015371
Miklowitz, D. J., Efthimiou, O., Furukawa, T. A. et al. (2021). Adjunctive Psychotherapy for Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Component Network Meta-Analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 78, 141-150. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.2993
Mills, A., & Slobodin, R. (1994). Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief among North American Indians and Inuit. University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442670761
Nannan Panday-Jhingoeri, K. (2019). Pluralisme bij de behandeling van psychiatrische problematiek in Suriname. Een onderzoek naar de bijdrage van culturele verklaringen aan de behandeling van patiënten met psychische problemen. Anton de Kom Universiteit van Suriname.
Nannan Panday-Jhingoeri, K. (2022). De rol van trauma en cultuur bij psychiatrische problematiek. Ervaringen uit de Surinaamse praktijk. Paramaribo.
Ng, J., Nazir, Z., & Nault, H. (2020). Complementary and Alternative Medicine Recommendations for Depression: A Systematic Review and Assessment of Clinical Practice Guidelines. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 20, Article No. 299. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-03085-1
Nichter, M. (2010). Idioms of Distress Revisited. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 34, 401-416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-010-9179-6
Obeyesekere, G. (2002). Imagining Karma. Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520232204.001.0001
Okwu, A. S. (1979). Life, Death, Reincarnation, and Traditional Healing in Africa. African Issues, 9, 19-24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047160700504594
Peres, J. (2012). Should Psychotherapy Consider Reincarnation? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 200, 174-179. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e3182439836
Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (Eds.) (2017). Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Wolters Kluwer.
Salkeld, E. (2008). Integrative Medicine and Clinical Practice: Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies. Complimentary Practice Health Review, 13, 21-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1533210107311121
Schaffler, Y., Cardeña, E., Reijman, S., & Haluza, D. (2016). Traumatic Experience and Somatoform Dissociation among Spirit Possession Practitioners in the Dominican Republic. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 40, 74-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-015-9472-5
Seligman, R., & Kirmayer, L. (2008). Dissociative Experience and Cultural Neuroscience: Narrative, Metaphor and Mechanism. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 32, 31-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-007-9077-8
Spanos, N. P., Burgess, M. F., & Burgess, C. A. (1994). Past-Life Identities, Ufo Abduction and Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Social Construction of Memories. The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 42, 433-446. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207149408409369
Spiegel, D., Loewenstein, R. J., Lewis-Fernández, R., Sar, V., Simeon, D., Vermetten, E., Cardeña, E., & Dell, P. F. (2011). Dissociative Disorders in DSM-5. Depression Anxiety, 28, 824-852. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20874
Szasz, T. (2010). Coercion as Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry. Transaction Publishers.
Ten Dam, H. (2013). Catharsis, Integratie en Transformatie. Handboek transpersoonlijke regressietherapie. Tasso Uitgeverij.
Thomason, T. C. (2008). Possession, Exorcism and Psychotherapy. Professional Issues in Counseling, 8, 3-22.
Van der Maesen, R., & Bontenbal, R. (2002). Handboek Reïncarnatietherapie. De Tijdstroom.
Van Duijl, M. (2014). Spirits, Devils and Trauma. Dissociation in Uganda. Boekenplan.
Van Duijl, M., Kleijn, W., & De Jong, J. (2014). Unravelling the Spirits’ Message: A Study of Help-Seeking Steps and Explanatory Models among Patients Suffering from Spirit Possession. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 8, Article No. 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-8-24
Van Ommeren, M., Komproe, I., Cardena, E., Thapa, S.B., Prasain, D., de Jong, J. T., & Sharma, B. (2004) Mental Illness among Bhutanese Shamans in Nepal. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 313-317. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.nmd.0000122381.09491.7f
Vance, E. (2016). Suggestible You. National Geographic Partners, LLC.
Wooding, C. J. (2013). Winti: Een Afroamerikaanse Godsdienst in Suriname. Proefschrift, Universiteit van Amsterdam.