ZYGO Zygon® 0591-2385 1467-9744 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00672.x SPIRIT HEALING, MENTAL HEALTH, AND EMOTION REGULATION Koss‐Chioino Joan D. 02 06 2005 40 2 10.1111/zygo.2005.40.issue-2 409 422

Abstract. Spirit healing is widespread across societies in diverse world regions. Its ritual forms appear in local, popular religions as well as a variety of organized churches. Although aspects of ritual, suchas the identification of spirits and use of symbols and paraphernalia, vary with culture and type of religion, there appear to be basic components of ritual healing process shared by its diverse forms. Using data on Spiritist healing in Puerto Rico as a case example, I first examine aspects of the interface between mental illness as defined by psychiatry and spirit healing. I then raise the question: If spirit healing is effective with some emotional disorders (as I have discussed in previous reports), how does it work? Emotional transactions could be considered foundational to most or all spirit healing rituals as they are to some psychotherapeutic and alternative‐medicine modalities. One model of emotion regulation is proposed as a lens through which to view specific processes of change in feelings and emotions in the context of culturally specified ritual structures.

 emotion regulation psychiatric illness Puerto Rico ritual healing process spirit healing spirit mediums Spiritism American Psychiatric Association, 1987. Diagnostic and Stastical Manual III, Washington , D.C. : American Psychiatric Press. Csordas, Thomas J.1983. “The Rhetoric of Transformation in Ritual Healing. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry  7 (4): 333–75. Csordas, Thomas J.1993. The Sacred Self: Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing. Berkeley : Univ. of California Press. Csordas, Thomas, & ElizabethLewton1998. “Practice, Performance and Experience in Ritual Healing. Transcultural Psychiatry  35 (December): 435–512. Dow, J.1986. “Universal Aspects of Symbolic Healing: A Theoretical Synthesis. American Anthropologist  88: 56–69.DOI: 10.1525/aa.1986.88.1.02a00040 Frank, Jerome1961. Persuasion and Healing. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins. Garrison, Vivian1977. “The Puerto Rican Syndrome in Health‐seeking Behavior in a Puerto Rican Neighborhood of New York City. Medical Anthropology  1: 64–188. Garrison, Vivian1978. “Support Systems of Schizophrenic and Nonschizophrenic Puerto Rican Women in New York City. Schizophrenia Bulletin  4: 561–96. Gross, James J.1998. “Antecedent‐ and Response‐focused Emotion Regulation: Divergent Consequences for Expression, Experience and Physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  74 (1): 224–37.DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.74.1.224 Guarnaccia, Peter J., PilarParra, AuraDeschamps, GlenMilstein, & NuriArgiles.1992. “Si Dios quiere: Hispanic Families' Experiences of Caring for a Seriously Mentally Ill Family Member. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry  16 (2):187–215.DOI: 10.1007/BF00117018 Harwood, Alan1977. Rx: Spiritist as Needed. New York : John Wiley. Koss, Joan D.1975. “Therapeutic Aspects of Puerto Rican Cult Practices. Psychiatry  38: 160–70. Koss, Joan D.1976. “Religion and Science Divinely Related: A Case History of Spiritism in Puerto Rico. Caribbean Studies  16: 22–43. Koss, Joan D.1979. “Artistic Expression and Creative Process in Caribbean Possession Cult Rituals  .”In The Visual Arts: Graphic and Plastic, ed. JustineCordwell, 373–410. The Hague: Mouton . Koss, Joan D.1980. “The Therapist‐Spiritist Training Project in Puerto Rico: An Experiment to Relate the Traditional Healing System to the Public Health System. Social Science and Medicine  14 (B): 255–66. Koss‐Chioino, Joan D.1992. Women as Healers, Women as Patients: Mental Health Care and Traditional Healing in Puerto Rico. Boulder , Colo. : Westview. Koss‐Chioino, Joan D.1996. “The Experience of Spirits: Ritual Healing as Transactions of Emotion (Puerto Rico)  .”In Yearbook of Cross‐Cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy, Vol. 1993, Ethnopsychotherapy, ed. W.Andritzky, 251–71. Berlin : Verlag fur Wissenschaft und Bildung. Levy, Robert1984. “Emotion, Knowing and Culture  .”In Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self and Emotion, ed. R.Shweder & R.Levine, 214–37. Boston : Cambridge Univ. Press. Mesquita, Batja, & RobertWalker2003. “Cultural Differences in Emotions: A Context for Interpreting Emotional Experiences. Behaviour Research and Therapy  41: 777–93. Mesquita, Batja, & Hazel R.Markus.2004. “Culture and Emotion: Models of Agency as Sources of Cultural Variation in Emotion  .”In Feelings and Emotions: The Amsterdam Symposium, ed. N. H.Fridja, A. S. R.Manstrad, & A.Fisher, 341–58. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press. Pert, Candace B., Henry E.Dreher, & Michael R.Ruff.2005. “The Psychosomatic Network: Foundations of Mind‐body Medicine  .”In Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind‐Body Medicine, ed. MarilynSchlitz & TinaAmorok with Marc S.Micozzi, 61–78. St. Louis , Mo. : Elsevier. Rogler, Lloyd H., & August B.Hollingshead.1965. Trapped: Families and Schizophrenia. New York : John Wiley. Scheff, Thomas1979. Catharsis in Healing, Ritual and Drama. Berkeley : Univ. of California Press. Seligman, Martin, & MihalyCsikszentmihalyi2000. “Positive Psychology: An Introduction. American Psychologist  55: 5–14.