Indigenous Healing Practices Challenge Global Psychology to Rethink Its Roots
A study published in a leading psychology journal argues that time-honored Indigenous healing practices—centered on rituals, storytelling, and ancestral wisdom—offer powerful alternatives to Western psychiatric models. The international research team calls for a decolonial turn in psychology, urging mental health systems to embrace Indigenous cosmologies, ceremonies, and community knowledge as vital resources rather than curiosities.
For Thai readers, the findings resonate with the Kingdom’s own traditions of healing, spirituality, and communal care. Thailand sits at the crossroads of tradition and modern health care, where village rituals, Buddhist meditation, and temple-based mindfulness already play a role in mental well-being. As psychological distress rises globally and in Thailand, the study prompts urgent conversations about whether Western models alone are enough—or appropriate—for Thai communities.