Primogenitor-Psychotherapy – Becoming and Belonging: An Archaeology of Meaning. A Holistic Perspective of Mental Health Care among the Igbo People of South-Eastern Nigeria
Healing is a general understanding in the area of Health Services. It is nevertheless not a univocal concept. The one-dimensional consideration of the Human Person does not correspond to his or her Being Human and with his longing for healing. There is a necessity to see him or her from the holistic perspective. There are therefore, culturally immanent concepts and methods that contribute to the holistic healing of the individual. The concept of “Belonging” is one of such culturally immanent ways of holistic healing and philosophically closely connected with “Becoming”. It is a most fundamental characteristic of being human (Wolfers, 2018). The concept is very peculiar to the Igbos of Southeast Nigeria. “Belonging, understood as a Life-Sense (Ibe bu ike – Belonging is strength) has to do with the actively Living, though it never excludes the Living-Dead in their potential Meaning-Relations. The major business of Primogenitor-Psychotherapy therefore, is to elicit and lay bare all those conscious and unconscious Meaning Potentials waiting to be realised by those in immediate need of clinical treatment. The setting I have called the “Archaeology of Meaning.
Two original symbols are of vital importance in their narrative structure: the OFOR and the COLANUT Symbols. The maieutic method finds here its application and strength. The objective is the enhancement of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis, utilizing thereby the “Predominant Features of Personality of the intended Subjects under study. “Selective Perception, Prioritization and Scaling System help to create an inner awareness that resonates with the Treatment Objective in the patient.
