1. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830

2. Class 14 – Alternative Healers

3. D. Will community increase with war or epidemic?

4. IV. Special Case: Phone and Internet
– emotional support is best from face to face but social support is best
online, they can tell you about jobs etc
A. E-mail
B. Internet game groups
C. Texting
D. Conclusions

5. I. Self-care most common for illness
– alternative healers = peple with no formal
medical training that heal people. eg
A. Quickest, easiest, cheapest, most comfortable
• eat chicken soup, rest, avoid junk food
• self medicate = people get sick so they drink
themselves into oblivion
B. If problem persists, people seek medical care
II. Alternative care
A. Similar advantages to self-care
B. If problem persists, people seek medical care

6. III. Study of alternative healers in New Jersey
A. Interviews and participant observations
• did 300 interviews and tons of data! religious
haling, Christian science, psychic, cult, human
potential, yoga
B. 10% of NJ residents use a wide range of alternative
healers

7. IV. Why do people go to alternative healers?
A. Value system
• teach you, youre responsible for your own health
• your body will heal itself if you give it the right
environment, rest, food etc.
B. Social status
• by talking to some healers, you get status
C. Social support through group activities
• other people try to make you feel better
D. Non-medical theory of illness causation
•

8. E. Limitations of modern medicine
1. Not good at preventing disease
– doctors cant do anything without symptoms
2. Not good at curing vague symptoms of malaise
(discomfort)
3. Often lacks personal approach
– you connect with the healer more than your doctor
4. Not good at improving quality of life

9. V. Types of alternative healing
A. Eastern systems of medicine
• acupuncture (we dont know how it works)
B. Western systems of alternative medicine
• karyopractic
C. Herbal medicine
• aroma therapy
D. Manual healing methods
• massage therapies
E. Mind/body methods
• hook you up to electronic machines and make you relax
• so you can train your mind to increase your alpha
waves that can calm your mind
• hypnosis - you can hypnotice people
• MUSIC THERAPY

10. VI. Example: Erhard Seminars Training (EST)
– erhard was a car salesman before
A. Values: you are responsible for your own health
• you are sitting next to people who actually believe it works so
its a positive affect
• he was a charismatic speaker
• if you give your body the chance, it will heal itself
B. Status: high status people participate in EST
• so you wanted to go
C. Support: EST connects people to support groups
1. the thing was so time consuming that you lost your friends
from outside and made new est friends.
2. you were allowed to think that you did not like your
spouse so there were a lot of divorces
D. Non-medical theory: importance of psychological processes
in determining health

11. VII. A selection of other alternative healers
A. Chiropractors
• third largest group of healers after doctors and dentists
• you believe that if you have a lot of pain, its because of a misalignment
of your parts... so the person massages you to make it better
• you can major in it (60 hours of undergraduate training-4 years) no
residency
• they are pretty good
• popular cz
• reduce pain
• spend more time with you
• cheap
B. Rolfing
B. extreme chiropractic
C. you dig your hand between muscle and bone
C. Blood type diets
C. regulating diet to make you healthy depending on what blood type
you are
D. its stupid

12. D. Christian groups
1. Women’s Aglow International
2. Unity School of Christianity
3. Christian Science Church
– all sickness is an elusion caused by an imbalance in their
spiritual nature.
– children are the property of their parent
E. Other religious groups
1. Hare Krishna
– international society of ....
– no gambling
– no intoxicants
– no meat, fish or eggs
– no sex outside marriage

13. E. Quacks
1. Laetrile as a cure for cancer
– do not eat apricot pitts, it has cyanide
– laetrile = bogus and can not help and people die with
cancer
2. Wonder drug as a cure for arthritis
– placebo effect = fake drugs so it will make you feel better
– best example = insomnia
– people wake up - blame it on the pill - stop worrying -
go to sleep
3. Effectiveness: quacks get some positive results!

14. VIII. Summary
A. NJ study participants used both medical and
alternative healers
1. Medical doctors are used for “medical” problems
2. Alternative healers are used for everything else

15. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830