Folk wisdom and traditional healing practices: Some lessons for modern psychotherapies

Ajit K. Dalal

The paper reviews the relevance and richness of the traditional healing practices in India, and argues that these are based on complex psychological theories of mind and human nature. Some salient characteristics of these traditional practices are identified. The paper endeavours to understand the way traditional healing works to alleviate human suffering and tries to delineate the role of cultural belief systems. It is argued that an in-depth study of folk wisdom inherent in traditional healing practices can lead to the development of new psychotherapies appropriate in the modern world.