There is little scientific evidence that the fundamental concepts behind native American healing can cure illness. However, the communal support provided by this religious-cultural approach to health care can have worthwhile benefits. One such benefit is the coming together as a group to address a common cause. This often has therapeutic benefits. Prayers, introspection, and meditation can be calming and stress-reducing, as can the comfort of not facing problems alone.
Some people like to take part in a process that has a history dating back thousands of years.
The sense of sharing a history and belonging to a greater community can be helpful and reassuring. However, native American healing has not been shown scientifically to cure serious disease. Although some aspects of the system may improve comfort and reduce pain and stress, it should not be relied on to cure cancer, or used instead of modern, science-based treatment. Like other complementary therapies, native American healing may be used in relieving certain symptoms of cancer and side effects of cancer treatment. Native American healing should not be expected to slow or reverse growth or spread of cancer.