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Ethnic Medicine in the Southwest explores traditions guiding the medical arts of Yaqui, Anglo, Black and Mexican American communities and points out the relationship between alternative and scientific medicine. Beliefs prevail that illness may be punishment for sin, or caused by witchcraft or overwork. Treatment may include dreams, herbs, massage, or prayer. While practitioners in these communities are not necessarily licensed in the legal sense, they are nonetheless trusted and often effective.
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Rios et al. (1978) studied this question.
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