Gnawa lila and Hamadsha (Morocco)

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Sidi Ali ben Hamdush, Sidi Ahmed Dghughi · 1500 · Morocco

What it is

What these traditions are. Gnawa (also spelled Gnaoua) and the Hamadsha are two Moroccan healing and devotional traditions. Each has its own bearers and its own sources of authority. The psychotherapist works alongside them and never performs them.

Format

• The CFI can be given at the first evaluation, later in care, or repeatedly. The modules can be used as add-ons or on their own. The APA gives no administration time. A figure of about 15–20 minutes for the core CFI is often quoted.
• Gnawa. UNESCO describes Gnawa as musical events, performances, fraternal practices and healing rituals in which "the secular and the sacred" mix. It calls Gnawa "first and foremost a Sufi brotherhood music" with mostly religious lyrics "invoking ancestors and spirits." UNESCO traces it to groups…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• 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?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• 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

• the client feeling exoticised, for example by being asked about the festival. It is working when the client brings identity themes up on their own.
• spiritual seeking used to avoid other problems, and re-traumatisation. It is working when the client's symptoms ease and they hold a respectful view of the tradition.
• domestic control or violence linked to the client's participation, and economic strain. It is working when the client can talk openly about gender and family pressures.
• stopping medication after a ceremony, and wounds or burns that have not been seen by a doctor. It is working when the client tells both you and the prescriber about traditional care.
• the family overruling the client, blame between family members (for example sorcery accusations against a relative), and pressure on the therapist to take sides. It is working when the family…

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.