Two-eyed seeing as a philosophy to facilitate communication between indigenous counselors and psychiatry about mind and mental health

Abstract

Introduction

The term “two-eyed seeing” is spreading across North America as a concept for explanatory pluralism. The concept was brought into academic science by Albert Marshall, a M’iqmaq from Nova, Scotia, Canada. It speaks to the idea that indigenous knowledge is an equally valid way of conceptualizing a phenomenon as is contemporary science. Marshall’s famous example compares a traditional M’iqmaq story about the origins of the large tides in the Bay of Fundy with contemporary oceanographic geology findings and simulations.

Objectives

We wanted to explore how this two-eyed seeing model could be applied to mental health to facilitate a dialogue between psychiatry and traditional cultural healers.

Methods

We reviewed the existing literature on two-eyed seeing within mental health care using PubMed, IndexMedicus, OneSearch, and Google Scholar. We presented a course on two-eyed seeing for indigenous mental health services and two-eyed seeing for addressing trauma in indigenous communities and surveyed the participants about the two-eyed seeing concept. We offered this course primarily to providers within indigenous communities and also for other interested counsellors.

Results

Participants in our trainings were enthusiastic about the role of two-eyed seeing for improving communication among indigenous providers and patients and non-indigenous providers. Most indigenous counselors had not heard of two-eyed seeing and were quite enthusiastic about its affirming nature and how it gave them a basis for dialogue with non-indigenous practitioners.

Conclusions

Two-eyed seeing allows a rich dialogue between European-derived practitioners and indigenous people that enabls each to appreciate the other’s perspectives, leading to greater cooperation and collaborative treatment.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.