Diversification of Mental Health Care: Brazilian Kardecist Psychiatry and the Aesthetics of Healing

Brazilian Kardecist Psychiatry and the Aesthetics of Healing

Abstract

The article links current discussions within medical anthropology regarding medical pluralism and complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) to neuroscientific concepts of interoception by analyzing practices and aesthetics of healing within Brazilian Spiritism. It focuses on the Brazilian mental health care system, the importance of Kardecist-Spiritist institutions within it, and the question of how to interpret dynamics of diversified health seeking behavior. A summary of related discourses within medical anthropology, current developments in Brazil, and some basic facts on Brazilian Spiritism and Kardecist psychiatry will introduce to the topic. The Hospital Espírita de Marília serves as an example to discuss Spiritist healing practices and to offer some insight on actor-networks within Kardecism. The author discusses aspects of the “aesthetics of healing” and earlier discourses on mediumship and spirit possession, to develop new ideas regarding the efficacy of these therapies in terms of “working with the senses.” Applying the concept of “interoception” to the data and connecting the different threads of argument, the article analyzes the importance of Spiritist healing practices and Kardecist psychiatry for the mental health care in Brazil and abroad. As conclusion, it outlines the need for further discussion on how to investigate the dynamic process of diversification of mental health care in the future.