Sun Dance

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Plains nations

What it is

The Sun Dance is a sacred annual ceremony of Plains nations. It is not a therapy, and a psychotherapist does not perform, lead or adapt any part of it. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes it as held by "several First Nations in the Prairies", naming the Kainai (Blood) Nation in Alberta. It says the…

Format

• This is a framework for the psychotherapist's own work alongside a client whose life includes the Sun Dance, as a dancer, supporter, family member or community member. Session counts and phase criteria are; no published clinical protocol specific to this context is cited, and the steps are the…
• Phase B: Engagement and cultural assessment (sessions 1–3, 50–60 minutes each). Goal: complete the core CFI and any modules indicated, the explanatory model, and a risk screen. The CFI has 16 questions in four domains: cultural definition of the problem; perceptions of cause, context and support;…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Suppression and survival. In the United States, officials targeted the Sun Dance from 1882. The Code of Indian Offenses issued through the Office of Indian Affairs banned traditional dancing, the work of medicine people and other religious practices. Agents raided gatherings, withheld rations from participants and starved or imprisoned repeat offenders, and Lakota people kept the dance alive in hidden places. The…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Phase D: Ongoing therapy alongside ceremonial life (weekly or fortnightly, length set by the presenting problem). Goal: treat the presenting problem with evidence-based methods fitted to the formulation, while respecting the ceremonial calendar (Sun Dances are usually held in summer) and any…

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?
• 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 broker becoming a gatekeeper or the client censoring because of kin ties. Working: fuller and more comfortable communication.
• you replacing community roles; untreated PTSD hidden by a strong public role. Working: symptom change plus restored community ties.
• family conflict over ceremonial participation; informants speaking for the client. Working: the client feels supported rather than talked about.
• your own urge to explain or psychologise; mood or sleep changes that persist. Working: the client draws on the experience as a resource in daily life.
• the client testing whether you will dismiss or romanticise their tradition. Working: the client mentions their spiritual life later without being asked.

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.