Indigenous Healing Psychology: Honoring the Wisdom of the First Peoples

by Richard Katz

Connecting modern psychology to its Indigenous roots to enhance the healing process and psychology itself

• Shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous people the author has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, the Fijians of the South Pacific, Sicangu Lakota people, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people

• Explains how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology

• Explores the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology and the shift of emphasis that occurs when one understands that all beings are interconnected

Wherever the first inhabitants of the world gathered together, they engaged in the human concerns of community building, interpersonal relations, and spiritual understanding. As such these earliest people became our “first psychologists.” Their wisdom lives on through the teachings of contemporary Indigenous elders and healers, offering unique insights and practices to help us revision the self-limiting approaches of modern psychology and enhance the processes of healing and social justice.

Reconnecting psychology to its ancient roots, Richard Katz, Ph.D., sensitively shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous peoples he has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, Fijians native to the Fiji Islands, Lakota people of the Rosebud Reservation, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people from Saskatchewan. Through stories about the profoundly spiritual ceremonies and everyday practices he engaged in, he seeks to fulfill the responsibility he was build a foundation of reciprocity so Indigenous teachings can create a path toward healing psychology. Also drawing on his experience as a Harvard-trained psychologist, the author reveals how modern psychological approaches focus too heavily on labels and categories and fail to recognize the benefits of enhanced states of consciousness.

Exploring the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology, Katz explains how the Indigenous approach offers a way to understand challenges and opportunities, from inside lived truths, and treat mental illness at its source. Acknowledging the diversity of Indigenous approaches, he shows how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology as well as guide us to a more holistic existence where we can once again assume full responsibility in the creation of our lives.

Genres: Psychology, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Counselling

621 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 19, 2017

Reviews

[Taylor Kowalyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truely value the information in this book. I do have to say though that I struggled through it, purely due to the way it was written didn't jive with how my brain thinks. But I still was able to learn and consider how to include these ideas in my life and practice.

[Gaby F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Tribute to the Wisdom of Indigenous Healers:

I strongly recommend to read this book if you want to see psychology from a totally different perspective. Although I have never experienced an indigenous healing ceremony myself, I believe there is much to learn from indigenous people and their healing practices.
Indigenous Healing Psychology by Richard Katz compares and contrasts what he defines as mainstream psychology and the psychology practiced by indigenous healers in indigenous communities all over the world.
First, Richard Katz speaks about his training at Harvard, where he was introduced to the different approaches to psychology by his professors. He received his Ph.D. at Harvard where he later taught for 20 years.
Richard Katz also points out the shortcomings of mainstream psychology when it comes to healing people. One example is the personal distance doctors keep from patients by maintaining the role of a neutral observer. Another example is the fact that often, mental health conditions are diagnosed, medications are prescribed, but the patient's real life problems are not addressed. Getting access to adequate mental health services is also a problem for many people who live at the margins of western societies.
In stark contrast to this western approach are the healing psychology practices by indigenous healers who Richard Katz has had the opportunity to work with for long stretches of time in different places of the world. The indigenous healers have in common, that their practice is based on personal experience, a close relationship between healer and the person or persons seeking healing, a sense of interconnectedness, and a deep spirituality which plays an important role in communal and personal healing. Richard Katz deems it important not to dismiss the indigenous healing practices as primitive. They should be respected, preserved, and parts of them even integrated into mainstream psychology to better serve the well being of individuals and whole communities.

[Brette C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be mandatory reading for all white mental health professionals. Not only transformative for my practice, but my personal life as well. I would give it 100 stars if I could.
Katz locates himself within institutions and whiteness, and uses this to translate to those of us who operate in these frameworks as well. If you’re going to read one book by a white guy, let this one be it.

[Hollis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s one of my cultural class textbooks and I really came in to this book with skepticism, that another outsider giving perspective on indigenous culture. Katz surprised me. With humility and deep respect, he voices what true cultural competence looks like.

He’s not only deeply rooted in Western psychology (you can tell by how fluently he compares Indigenous practices to mainstream theories), but he also isn’t afraid to critique its foundations. His honesty about psychology’s colonial roots, his humility in learning from others, and his centering of relationship, spirit, and community made this book powerful for me.

While I deeply appreciate the insights in this book, I found the first two chapters felt a bit stretched and disconnected from the healing practices discussed later. The storytelling about early travels is engaging, but almost belongs in a separate book, and I’d honestly be interested in that too.

[Syed · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Western worldview constantly reaffirms itself, everyone else has culture, whilst they alone have objective reality and fact."

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't understand the purpose of the first section at first, and it was slow to get through, but keep going.

[Alishia Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldnt get into it. Is not a text book or a novel. Repetative and tedious. Rest of book may have been better but wasnt able to read far into it.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone working within psychology, and even those working without, should read this book.

[Jo-jean Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary book. It's changed my thinking in a number of ways, expanding my knowledge and ability to integrate some of what I know about Psychology with the teachings here.