Malay bomoh and main puteri

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Kelantan, Malaysia

What it is

What this is. This is a living healing tradition, not a psychotherapy. A psychotherapist does not perform it. Bomoh is the Malay word that clinical researchers in Malaysia use for a traditional healer; Razali and Najib (2000) use it for the healer whom psychiatric patients most often consulted…

Format

• Phases of the therapist's work:
• Cultural assessment (sessions 1–2, about 15–20 minutes for the core CFI): core CFI, chosen supplementary modules and the explanatory model. Move on once you can state the client's and family's names for the problem, its cause, and the help already sought.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Health regulation: Act 775 recognises seven T&CM practice areas, including Traditional Malay medicine and Islamic medicine practice. Since 1 March 2025 it has been an offence to practise in these areas without registration and a valid practising certificate. The MOH registration guideline for Malay traditional medicine lists herbal medicine, Malay massage (urut), cupping (bekam) and postnatal care, and describes the…
• Version followed: main puteri as described by the Malaysian cultural organisation Pusaka and by Carol Laderman's ethnography Taming the Wind of Desire: Psychology, Medicine, and Aesthetics in Malay Shamanistic Performance (University of California Press; a library record gives 1991, the publisher's paperback page gives March 1993); Malaysian regulation as the Ministry of Health (MOH) Traditional and Complementary…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• hopelessness about healing failing. It is working when the client agrees to the plan.
• coercion, and hidden decisions about treatment. It is working when the family brings concerns to you.
• harm presented as tradition, and fear of reprisal. It is working when the client can disclose and is safe.
• the family waiting for a healing outcome while symptoms worsen. It is working when the warning-sign plan is used.
• guilt that turns into depression, and secrecy that blocks safety planning. It is working when the client can talk openly.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.