0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 [Music] 0:00:19.393,0:00:23.453 I grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 0:00:23.453,0:00:26.963 in a family with South Carolina roots. 0:00:27.234,0:00:30.444 Here's a photo of my great Aunt Clara, 0:00:31.076,0:00:35.206 great Uncle Henry, a neighborhood friend and me. 0:00:35.678,0:00:39.908 I'm the one looking intently at the homemade biscuits. 0:00:43.442,0:00:44.422 As a little girl, 0:00:44.422,0:00:47.302 I remember Aunt Clara tucked me into bed 0:00:47.302,0:00:53.242 and battled my childhood measles with hot cups of tea made from sassafras root, 0:00:53.715,0:00:56.435 or gave me relief from common cold symptoms 0:00:56.435,0:01:02.575 with a tablespoon mixture of whiskey and rum poured over rock candy and fresh lemon rind. 0:01:02.721,0:01:10.111 As I grew older, stories with themes of hope and redemption with Bible scripture, 0:01:10.535,0:01:13.135 humor, wisdom and care -- 0:01:13.512,0:01:19.322 helped me make it through life's challenges whether they were measles or emotional struggles. 0:01:21.037,0:01:24.487 I'm sure you remember similar stories from your own family. 0:01:24.487,0:01:29.517 How do you think culture connects to healing and recovery? 0:01:29.994,0:01:34.974 You may think they're unrelated and many health practitioners would agree. 0:01:36.489,0:01:44.799 But a conventional medical model constructs healing as a blend of a health practitioner's expertise 0:01:44.799,0:01:50.583 and a patient's role in connecting to a belief system 0:01:50.583,0:01:55.203 that promotes good thoughts, feelings and behaviors. 0:01:56.337,0:01:58.067 So let me say that again. 0:01:58.725,0:02:06.025 Healing and recovery include a patient's role in connecting to a belief system 0:02:06.025,0:02:10.925 that promotes good thoughts, feelings and behaviors. 0:02:11.996,0:02:18.096 Yet conventional medicine routinely overlooks the role of culture in this process. 0:02:18.822,0:02:24.862 As a consequence, healing traditions are often minimized as legitimate partners. 0:02:25.461,0:02:34.511 Instead, we should appreciate the role traditions play as medicines connecting herbs and ointments, 0:02:34.511,0:02:39.978 words and sayings, and a variety of sensory experiences. 0:02:40.858,0:02:47.898 You see, if we paint healing traditions with the broad brush of superstitions and stereotypes, 0:02:48.181,0:02:52.771 we are not getting an accurate picture of cultural practices. 0:02:54.024,0:03:02.674 So I took what I learned from my aunt Clara and I recognized that on the one hand, 0:03:02.983,0:03:07.193 there's conventional medicine which provides us 0:03:07.193,0:03:13.696 with the best science has to offer as the mechanics of health. 0:03:14.024,0:03:17.444 And then on the other hand, there's healing traditions. 0:03:17.444,0:03:25.014 People are bringing and trying to claim their agency when they integrate cultural practices. 0:03:26.154,0:03:32.364 Researchers have found connections between the brain and our immune system. 0:03:33.084,0:03:37.084 It turns out our brain and immune system communicates. 0:03:38.407,0:03:42.147 Moreover, researchers at the University of Wisconsin 0:03:42.147,0:03:51.397 found changes in the brain associated with positive affect for meditators as compared to non-meditators. 0:03:52.123,0:03:58.743 So the best practice connects conventional medicine to cultural patterns for healing and recovery. 0:03:59.603,0:04:06.333 The best practice is an integrated process that's closer to local life. 0:04:08.055,0:04:11.585 So I took what I learned from my aunt Clara, as I said to you before, 0:04:11.585,0:04:16.635 and now I'm a psychologist whose passion about exploring the role 0:04:16.635,0:04:25.135 that culture plays in aiding individual and community agency in situations of psychological and social need. 0:04:25.693,0:04:31.433 I'm interested in healing traditions where individuals integrate elements individually 0:04:31.433,0:04:36.043 and combined to empower their personal transformation 0:04:36.242,0:04:42.532 and communities use them to challenge distorted ideas about their humanity. 0:04:43.423,0:04:48.143 I'm especially interested in the importance of the mind in recovery 0:04:48.686,0:04:53.716 because our behavior rises to the expectation of our beliefs. 0:04:57.006,0:05:01.406 So in a research study about 15 years ago, 0:05:02.079,0:05:09.159 I found that African-American healing traditions had four structural elements or themes. 0:05:09.159,0:05:17.409 This discovery validated the lessons I learned from my family were cultural patterns of thinking and behavior. 0:05:17.850,0:05:20.610 And these were time honored, reasoned ideas. 0:05:21.727,0:05:24.577 The first element is spirituality. 0:05:25.328,0:05:34.008 I'm not talking about religion. Because religion is a particular system of faith. I'm talking about spirituality. 0:05:34.396,0:05:41.726 An awareness of an other-worldly dimension to human experience and a personal connection with that world. 0:05:42.386,0:05:51.406 Spiritual consciousness motivates a commitment to a higher life purpose. Spirituality is foundational. 0:05:52.097,0:05:58.777 It shapes our personal psychology by awakening awareness of our personal strengths. 0:05:58.777,0:06:03.657 Those strengths within ourselves and others and our strengths include love, 0:06:04.163,0:06:14.373 compassion, creativity, hope, gratitude, justice, just to name a few. 0:06:14.373,0:06:24.093 I was about 8 or 9 years old when I observed my Grandma Nan preparing to attend a Sunday women's day service. 0:06:24.093,0:06:29.923 I recall her crisp white cotton dress contrasted against her maple brown skin. 0:06:30.427,0:06:34.747 And my little eyes watched closely as she placed a white lace handkerchief 0:06:34.747,0:06:38.517 so that it peeked from the dress pocket just below her left shoulder. 0:06:38.517,0:06:43.257 She put on her white gloves and put her bible under her arm 0:06:44.129,0:06:48.699 and then she held my face closely and reminded me to be good. 0:06:50.822,0:06:55.762 My grandmother's words, I reflected on as I became an adult 0:06:56.553,0:06:58.943 and she often said, be good, to me. 0:06:58.943,0:07:07.603 But now I know that she meant, be of good character, be of good service and be good to myself. 0:07:08.248,0:07:11.718 Goodness was a spiritual affirmation and she believed 0:07:11.718,0:07:16.298 that I could survive the challenges that I'd face as a black woman. 0:07:16.476,0:07:20.476 If I developed an active spiritual practice. 0:07:20.640,0:07:29.640 So my grandmother's women's day annual Sunday service was an act of spiritual practice and a ritual activity. 0:07:29.819,0:07:37.669 So the second element is ritual. Ritual is a series of actions performed in a prescribed order. 0:07:37.669,0:07:44.641 There's ritual cleansing such as Limpia and Latina culture and the Native American sweat lodge ceremonies. 0:07:44.797,0:07:48.597 But there are also group rituals and it's in these rituals 0:07:48.597,0:07:54.317 that a person belongs as a member of the whole community and finds support and hope. 0:07:54.317,0:07:58.677 So as you can see on the slide, in Goligichi culture, 0:07:58.677,0:08:02.677 African-American communities located along the coastal shores of North, 0:08:02.677,0:08:06.357 South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida, 0:08:06.357,0:08:10.877 these communities still preserve features of West African cultural ties. 0:08:10.877,0:08:16.217 The ring shell is an important ritual in Goligichi culture. 0:08:16.340,0:08:22.800 It's a collective performance of bonding and support using the body and rhythm. 0:08:22.800,0:08:26.390 In this video clip, you'll see an example of a ring shell. 0:08:26.712,0:08:32.842 Shouters are moving in a circular pattern counterclockwise while stepping in harmony. 0:08:32.842,0:08:39.492 And this particular shout skillfully instructs on how to watch the stars to see when 0:08:39.679,0:08:42.869 and in what direction to run to freedom. 0:08:43.629,0:09:02.159 [Singing and chanting] 0:09:02.686,0:09:08.666 So. -- spirituality and ritual are the first two elements. 0:09:08.955,0:09:15.555 Has anyone ever said just the right words to inspire or encourage you? 0:09:15.555,0:09:18.415 The third element is the power of words. 0:09:19.179,0:09:24.539 Among traditional cultures, speech is a source of power and wisdom. 0:09:25.032,0:09:33.742 And words are believed to provide and to produce the outcome when a speaker activates them by their intention. 0:09:34.022,0:09:35.132 Here's an example. 0:09:35.132,0:09:40.262 So if words are spoken in conditions of anger and resentment, 0:09:40.804,0:09:46.884 then we experience that outcome. On the other hand, if words are spoken in love and kindness, 0:09:47.395,0:09:50.075 then we see that experience. 0:09:50.075,0:09:52.215 According to the Pew Research Center, 0:09:52.215,0:09:56.055 55 percent of Americans pray every day. 0:09:57.117,0:10:04.927 And for years researchers have been studying prayer as a common complement to conventional medicine. 0:10:06.084,0:10:09.124 Moving forward, the last element is dreams. 0:10:09.124,0:10:14.824 Can you recall ever having a creative idea resulting from a dream or solving a problem? 0:10:14.824,0:10:21.554 Dreams are our connection to the unconscious mind and their meanings vary. 0:10:21.554,0:10:26.704 There's a ray of information imparted about our experience through our dreams. 0:10:27.274,0:10:29.964 Our dreams are full of metaphors. 0:10:30.744,0:10:36.774 And there's an endless list of dream interpretations passed down through generations by oral tradition. 0:10:37.588,0:10:43.048 For instance, if you're flying upward in a dream, 0:10:43.771,0:10:48.021 it's a metaphor for rising to the next level in some area of your life. 0:10:49.010,0:10:55.770 In native American culture, totem animals or guiding spirits may appear in a dream. 0:10:56.590,0:10:58.770 To bring you a message. 0:10:59.122,0:11:07.062 And if your totem is an eagle, the eagle may deliver a message about a problem or issue in your life. 0:11:07.062,0:11:11.722 While studying healing traditions, in such places as Senegal, 0:11:12.169,0:11:16.899 Brazil, China, Tibet and Thailand, 0:11:17.297,0:11:23.827 I recognized they shared structural elements found in my study on African-American healing. 0:11:24.398,0:11:30.168 While I'm not saying this is a final set, I posit that these four elements: 0:11:30.168,0:11:35.438 spirituality, ritual, the power of words, 0:11:35.438,0:11:42.148 and dreams as an age old blueprint for harnessing personal strengths. 0:11:42.338,0:11:46.738 For instance, a team of researchers from the United Kingdom 0:11:46.738,0:11:52.398 examined a psychosocial care project for Tibetans in exile in Darsalorma, 0:11:52.398,0:11:54.738 northern India who had been tortured. 0:11:54.738,0:12:01.528 They found that the clients and staff believed that the care project provided a much needed service. 0:12:01.528,0:12:09.468 And that it effectively combined western psychological approaches with local cultural and religious practices. 0:12:10.584,0:12:19.254 For example, the western practitioners incorporated relaxation methods with clients derived from Buddhist practices. 0:12:20.199,0:12:29.739 Their knowledge of Buddhism and sensitivity to Tibetan culture showed respect for a different way to shape healing. 0:12:31.002,0:12:35.762 Healing traditions integrate social connections, beliefs, 0:12:35.762,0:12:40.182 and practices as multi-faceted medicines; 0:12:40.182,0:12:45.172 recognizing culture's connection to healing can employ traditions 0:12:45.172,0:12:50.472 as tools to help people recover spiritual and emotional balance. 0:12:51.468,0:12:57.218 So modern medicine and culture can partner to support our human potential 0:12:57.218,0:13:01.218 for power responses to disease and illness. 0:13:01.218,0:13:07.248 Healing traditions play an important role as legitimate partners in this process. 0:13:07.248,0:13:12.288 For those people who keep close ties to their cultural identity. 0:13:12.912,0:13:14.342 Thank you for listening. 0:13:14.342,0:13:16.272 {Applause.}.