Georgian folk medicine

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Georgia

What it is

Georgian folk medicine is not a single therapy or a licensed profession. It is a body of household and community healing knowledge with two strands that ethnologists keep distinct: an empirical strand (plant, mineral and animal remedies, wound care, bone-setting, tooth extraction) and a…

Format

• This is a framework for the therapist's own culturally responsive work, not stages of the folk tradition. No source sets a session count for this work. Phases and timing are built on the APA's guidance on when to use the CFI and its modules.
• Phase A: Engagement and cultural assessment (sessions 1-2).

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. Georgian folk medicine is not a single therapy or a licensed profession. It is a body of household and community healing knowledge with two strands that ethnologists keep distinct: an empirical strand (plant, mineral and animal remedies, wound care, bone-setting, tooth extraction) and a magico-religious strand (incantations, called შელოცვები, prayers, appeals to saints, church and shrine rites, and…

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

• minimisation; fear that reporting will bring shame on the family. Working: risk is reduced and the family stays engaged.
• your biomedical model quietly replacing theirs in the write-up. Working: the client recognises themselves in the summary.
• the cost of medicines driving non-adherence; reluctance to see a psychiatrist because of stigma. Working: the client takes a concrete step and reports back.
• shame or defensiveness if the parent feels accused; a sick child not yet seen. Working: the child is seen medically and the family's customs are not dismissed.
• a family view overriding the client's; isolation of the ill person beyond what the client wants. Working: the family reports a shared plan and less conflict about cause.

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.