The Quest for Promoting Health and Healing

This chapter traces the origins and historical development of health psychology and community psychology. In particular, the goals and methods of these fields are critically examined in the background of an interpretive turn in social sciences. It is observed that promoting health and healing from the standpoint of the end-users utilizing multi-disciplinary approaches and innovative qualitative and quantitative methodologies constitute the state-of-the-art focus in these fields. In light of this shift in the goals and methodologies, this chapter offers a critical appraisal of the emerging research trends in the Indian setting. The chapter ends with an emphasis on incorporating culture through the use of qualitative or ethnographic studies and conceptualization of suffering and healing within a framework informed by indigenous scholarship present in Indian thought systems.