title: A pilot study of faith healers' views on evil eye, jinn possession, and magic in the kingdom of saudi arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Faith healers usually offer unorthodox therapies to their clients who present with an array of physical and psychological symptoms suggestive of the evil eye, jinn possession, and magic.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This exploratory pilot study aims to analyse the pattern of narrated symptoms and treatments given by faith healers practising in the Al-Qassim region, Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty five faith healers who consented to this study were given a predesigned, self-administered, semistructured questionnaire to collect the relevant data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Notably, most faith healers have a poor repertoire of psychiatric symptoms, which could not specifically differentiate the three spiritual disorders. They tend to recommend an array of therapies rooted in religious concepts for the treatment of their clients who, they claim, show substantial improvement in their mental suffering.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The revealed symptomatology of each disorder alone may not be specific but it certainly helps them not only to identify these disorders but also to prescribe unconventional therapies. Future research should look systematically into the diagnostic and treatment methods for these disorders.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Tariq A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Al-Habeeb