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Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 5/2020

01-10-2020 | Original Paper

Turkish Muslim Healers: A Qualitative Investigation of Hocas and Their Methods

Authors: Deniz Canel Çınarbaş, Ezgi Tuna, Yagmur Ar-Karci

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 5/2020

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Abstract

A vast majority of Turkish individuals are Muslim, and several Turkish individuals refer to traditional healers to get help for medical and psychological problems. The purpose of the present study was to investigate Turkish traditional healing methods and to delineate the kinds of presenting problems that the clients bring to healers, methods used by the healers, the healing process, and the effect of healing on the clients. For this purpose, 11 participants were interviewed. The data were analyzed using the consensual qualitative research method. Nine domains emerged from the interviews: symptoms, diagnosis, etiology, treatment, response to treatment, characteristics of healers, clients’ beliefs and desire to be healed, all healing coming from Allah (God), and characteristics of jinns. The findings were discussed in light of Kleinman’s (Patients and healers in the context of culture: an exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine, and psychiatry, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980) illness explanatory model and characteristics of Turkish culture.
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Metadata
Title
Turkish Muslim Healers: A Qualitative Investigation of Hocas and Their Methods
Authors
Deniz Canel Çınarbaş
Ezgi Tuna
Yagmur Ar-Karci
Publication date
01-10-2020
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 5/2020
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00885-9

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