A paper recently published in the journal Mental Health, Religion, and Culture describes an innovative healing approach for monks who have suffered under China’s occupation of Tibet – innovative not in the sense that it tries anything new, but that it actually integrates Tibetan and Western medicine. The paper also demonstrates the challenges and need for expansion of cross-cultural treatment of refugees.
Dr. Michael Grodin of the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights tailored a treatment for eight Tibetan monks in Boston that includes both Western and Tibetan diagnoses, combining mainstream healthcare with alternative therapies. One patient, Yeshi Togden, was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured in the late 1980s for his participation in peaceful protests against China’s presence in Tibet. Dr. Grodin diagnosed Togden with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as srog-rlung, an imbalance of the life-wind; his treatment included Taoist breathing and musical bowl-playing concurrent with psychotherapy and antidepressants.
With a rising global number of refugees and evidence of the long-term effects of trauma on the mental health of relocated refugees, it is important for the medical community to develop effective ways of providing care to this vulnerable group. For example, a 2007 study from Australia found that trauma and PTSD continue to affect the mental health of Vietnamese refugees even a decade after resettlement. The right to health should include the right to culturally-sensitive medical care, and we applaud the efforts of Dr. Grodin and others who provide it; all refugees deserve the same respect given to these Tibetan monks.
To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here
See also:
2008 Human Rights Report: China – U.S. Dept of State, Feb 2009
New video of torture exposes Chinese brutality in Tibet – Telegraph, Mar 2009
China says Tibet torture video is ‘a fake’ as it blocks youtube – Telegraph, Mar 2009
Chinese officials decry prison torture, vow checks – Reuters, Mar 2009
I’m fascinated by the interrelation between medicine and religion or cultural practice illustrated by the treatment of these monks. I wonder if our own U.S. communities could look to such sensitive and culturally integrative techniques to ease the transition of immigrants and others to our country. After well, “Western medicine” hasn’t been around nearly as long as these more traditional treatments.
Alyssa, you make an excellent point. I wondered if you knew the degree to which these patients know that they have the disorder? I wonder how many undiaognosed cases of PTSD continue to exist in immigrant communities, and whether there are human rights organization working to help refugees realize that they might be suffering for it?
On a side note, how wonderful that musical bowl-playing can be healing!