Aranke, or In the Long Line: Reflections on the 2011 Sigmund Freud Award for Psychotherapy and the Lineage of Traditional Indigenous Therapy in Australia

Abstract

This article is in three parts. The first is an introduction to the cultural context of indigenous therapies in Australia and some traditional healers, known as Ngangkari, involved in its continuing presence. The second part comprises a discussion of the term “psycho‐therapy” in its broadest sense, followed by an outline of the methodology of the “psychotherapy” of the Ngangkari, in which links are made between the concepts used by Ngangkari and traditional Western terms of psyche and therapeia. The third and final part leads into an extract from the speech given by the author at the 2011 Sigmund Freud Award ceremony at the World Congress for Psychotherapy held in Sydney in August 2011. The thrust of the article is to acknowledge and respect the long lineage of healing practices which have been maintained among indigenous people in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and at the same time acknowledging the Western lineage of scientific practice. The article highlights the sustained incremental effort at collaboration between the two paradigms.