In an increasingly global public health arena, migrant populations feel they receive poor access to mental health services due to cultural misunderstandings, and this may lead to provider and patient frustration. Through extensive fieldwork, British medical anthropologist Dr. Natalie Tobert explores Indian spirituality and traditional medical and religious practices. The result of her meticulous research, Spiritual Psychiatries, provides a fresh blueprint for improving western understanding of mental health and the human condition.
Tobert's comprehensive research spans the Indian subcontinent, from Pondicherry to Calcutta. Using evidence from forty in-depth personal interviews, she introduces philosophies of medical practitioners, Hindu, Muslim and Christian clergy, mental health patients, and clairvoyants. She discovers profound beliefs at the crossroads between spirituality and mental health, and realizes treatments deemed superstitious or out-of-date by western standards are current and can have surprisingly positive results.
Tobert's analysis of Indian spirituality and traditional practices will support medical practitioners, educators, policymakers, and patients to open the door to a more holistic view of psychiatric treatment. In a style reminiscent of noted scholars like Anne Fadiman or Cecil Helman, Spiritual Psychiatries brings previously ignored beliefs about human existential realities and practices into the mainstream global public health dialogue. In order to improve patient care in an increasingly interconnected global community, effective treatment must address deeply held cultural and spiritual beliefs.
About the Author: Dr. Natalie Tobert is a British medical anthropologist, who has undertaken research in India, United Kingdom, and the Sudan. Her interests, which include health promotion among minority groups, explore the crossroads between cultural understanding, religious experience, and mental well-being. They have inspired Spiritual Psychiatries, an exploration of Indian mental health traditions and their relevance for patient care in global multicultural populations.
She has taught mental health equality and cultural diversity at universities, medical schools, hospitals, and religious institutions throughout the UK. She is currently education director at Aethos Consultancy, and she has facilitated workshops in Sweden and Switzerland.
