[still from the film “Astral City: My Spiritual Home”
Spiritist Healing: A (r)Evolution in Mental Healthcare
Spiritist Healing: In Context
Why should we consider Spiritist healing now? There is currently an epidemic of mental health disorders in the U.S. At least one in five Americans is taking one or more prescribed psychiatric medications, despite their many side effects and lack of effectiveness overtime. However, optimizing wellbeing without psychiatric medications is possible, something many Brazilians have been doing for more than 100 years—using spiritual therapies.
[For a comparison of Spiritism and Spirituality: click HERE.You can learn more about Spiritist Healing in Brazil’s 13,000 Spiritist community centers and 50 Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals at
IMHU’s online course: Click HERE for info.
(Includes a 30 minute documentary on Spiritism)
That documentary is also available HERE
7-Day Seminar for Healthcare providers: HERE
My Time in Brazil Exploring Spiritist Healing
From 2001-2012 I spent 6 months of every year in Brazil exploring Brazilian Spiritism, an offshoot of Spiritualism that specializes in healing and supporting evolution.
During that time I served as a guide for those seeking healing from healers in Brazil. I also was invited to visit, write about, and create film documenting Spiritist psychiatric hospitals. I met with psychiatrists and psychologists to understand their path of diagnosis and treatment.
Since 2012 I have led 7-day seminars on location in Brazil so participants can interact with practitioners of Spiritist therapies, i.e. personally experience the work, and watch interactions with patients, and have Q&A with leaders in the field. Over the years, many generous Brazilians who work in the Spiritist hospitals have taught me about the spiritual side of maintaining wellness and healing from emotional disturbances.
Spiritist Healing by the Numbers
Spiritists operate over 13,000 community centers and fifty Spiritist psychiatric hospitals in Brazil. These hospitals combine conventional psychiatry, including the cautious use of psychiatric medication, group and individual psychotherapy, music therapy, art therapy, etc., with various paths of spiritual healing, such as energy work to clear subtle bodies, compassionate fellowship with peer counselors, spiritual healing, blessed water, the assistance of medical intuitives and mediums for diagnostics and treatment, including spirit release.
Entering the Hospital
A person who enters the hospital for care first meets with an MD for a physical check up, then a social worker to consider psychological stress (loss of a job, death in the family, marital problems, addiction, poverty, discrimination, etc)—similar to our psychiatric hospitals outside Brazil. An authorization to receive Spiritist treatment must be signed in order to receive Spiritist therapies. After being admitted, the person is ushered into a ward in the secure compound that is specific to their problem, e.g. addiction, extreme state, etc.
Goiania’s Spiritist psychiatric hospital grounds used to be a farm. Patients enjoy 100 year old mango and other trees with fruit free for the picking, a large permaculture garden where patients can work if they wish, and a pond with ducks to feed. Some friendly dogs and a large pet turtle roam freely! Cows graze in a nearby field and amble, mooing, into the compound barns to be milked twice a day. The rhythms of nature are ever present, the food is wholesome, companionship and support of other patients and peer support workers are close-by, nurses are there as needed. This is not like our typical hospital settings in the USA. I could imagine wanting to stay at this hospital on vacation!
A typical residential stay is 28 days; but some patients stay longer—depending on the care needed. Private patients, not subsidized by the government, may elect to stay much longer than 28 days. Most Spiritist hospitals also provide out-patient services for those who don’t need residential care.
Spiritist Healing: Spiritual Growth Impacts Mental Health
You don’t have to be religious to find healing at these hospitals, but you do need to align with what brings meaning and purpose to you individually. Many people find that meditation and prayer assist in finding meaning and purpose, which are universal practices found in nearly every culture to induce peace and reduce anxiety and depression. An ongoing community that is personally meaningful might involve making music or art together with others, being in nature, joining an athletic team, or a myriad of other interests that bring people into close, authentic connection, which also contribute to feelings of wellbeing.
A Way of Life
Brazilian Spiritism offers a way of life that supports wellness and spiritual evolution. Energy healing, blessed water to enhance healing, study groups, mediumistic meetings, lectures, compassionate fellowship, and training as an energy healer, medical intuitive or medium are services that are also available at community centers. Some centers offer pre-natal care, consultation with MDs and homeopaths, herbal and vitamin/mineral supplements, a soup kitchen and food boxes and clothing for those who are financially challenged. There are many opportunities for volunteer work to benefit others.in the context of a healthy, balanced lifestyle based on the golden rule. Spiritist mediums, medical intuitives, and healers offer their services for free through community centers and psychiatric hospitals to individuals of any age, culture and philosophy.
Fees
The hospitals charge for hospital services such as nursing, professional assessments, and residential care. Patients on government support pay nothing; private patients pay at a more normal rate for Brazil which is well below USA prices. Mediums and medical intuitives are sensitive people gifted with heightened psychic abilities, who have been trained over many years at Spiritist centers to perceive the root cause of mental disturbances in those who are suffering. They work in groups to perform spiritual healing supervised by their more experienced teachers. Spiritists have a system of mentoring the gifts of sensitives so they can harness their abilities to lead balanced lives and assist others. These practitioners never charge a fee for their services as they believe their gifts come freely from God and should thus be given for free.
Bringing it Home to the USA
Can you imagine what it might be like to receive this kind of care in the USA? I was profoundly touched by the compassion and sensitivity in the community centers and hospitals for those suffering with mental illness. My local hospital in NH, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, uses Reiki in palliative care; why not bring it into mental health care as well? Trained medical intuitives would be very beneficial to help improve diagnosis and treatment.
In Brazil, Spiritist community care has been available for more than 120 years. It has both stood the test of time and continues to grow in popularity. They call their approach “integrative” because it brings spirituality into mental healthcare, while recognizing the effective role bio-chemistry can play when monitored carefully. In the U.S., the Spiritual Emergence Network and Spiritual Competency Academy recognize a category of experience called “spiritual emergency,” which assists individuals experiencing a psycho-spiritual crisis, similar to the Brazilian focus.
An evolution in mental healthcare is taking place where we have become aware of the dangers in over-relying on psychiatric medications to improve health. Spiritist centers and hospitals in Brazil offer one model that can facilitate our re-evaluation and exploration of effective options and/or additional effective treatment modalities.
You can learn more about Spiritist Healing in Brazil’s 13,000 Spiritist community centers and 50 Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals at IMHU’s online course available now:
Click HERE for info.
30 min documentary film on Spiritism available HERE
7-day Seminar in Brazil for healthcare providers: HERE
Bio: Emma Bragdon has a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology, is a published author of 7 books, and the founder and executive director of Integrative Mental Health University (IMHU.org), a not for profit organization delivering online classes to the public to optimize mental health. Dr. Bragdon takes groups of healthcare providers to an annual weeklong seminar in Brazil to learn more about Spiritist healing from the psychiatrists, spiritual healers and psychologists who collaborate with mediums and healers in the hospitals and healing centers there. IMHU’s online course on Spiritist Therapies is available HERE. Visit IMHU.org/shop to learn more about books & films.
This article is an abbreviated version of a longer article that was published in “Spirit of Change” in Fall, 2016. Energy Magazine also published an article by Emma Bragdon on this topic in May/June 2017 which emphasizes how a version of healing touch is being used in Spiritist psychiatric hospitals.