Psychological and Medical Anthropologist
Dr. Nora Wittmann
“For many of us, rheumatoid arthritis is a relational disease, caused by a confusionof the immune system between love and fear/horror, mediated by cultural circumstances."
Trauma-Informed Coach
After achieving remission from seropositive rheumatoid arthritis naturally, I now guide others toward recovery. My approach combines socio-cultural analysis, perspective shifting, the restructuring of relations, and somatic energy work.
As a medical and psychological anthropologist and ICF-certified trauma-informed coach, I accompany your journey of recovery from autoimmunity, complex trauma, and unhealthy, incoherent cultural beliefs and values. We create new scopes of action to restore coherence to the immune system. I draw from diverse cultural knowledge systems, knowing there are more options when faced with challenges than the ones that seem to be our only choice.
In my work, I highlight the immunological nature of (c)ptsd/complex trauma and its links to autoimmune conditions. Data clearly shows that autoimmunity is significantly more prevalent in Western and heavily colonized societies than in traditional indigenous cultures. When we heal our individual lives in this manner, we contribute to healing the world that made us unwell in the first place.
I also assist people in overcoming various challenges by exploring alternate perspectives and using anthropological knowledge. I seek to help you find that which welcomes a sincere sense of calm, joy, and purpose in your life.
Autoimmune Analysis & Recover Support Program
What if autoimmune illness is not only biological, but also deeply connected to chronic relational stress and the cultural environments we live within? Stress is always shaped by our relationships, environments, and cultural conditions. In our work together, we explore which relational patterns or life dynamics may be keeping your system in chronic stress or defense. Rather than focusing only on symptoms, we look at the deeper patterns, regulation, and balance underlying them. Drawing from anthropology, trauma-informed somatic coaching, and energetic regulation work, I help clients identify where their immune system may be stuck in chronic defense, overwhelm, or confusion. Together, we explore new ways of relating that may support greater coherence, regulation, and embodied safety.
As a single mother, I also understand that healing cannot be separated from material reality. Many people living with autoimmune illness are carrying responsibilities, caregiving burdens, financial pressure, or relational stress that cannot simply be “thought away” through wellness advice. I do not offer simplistic solutions or promise a completely different life. Instead, I offer realistic, culturally informed, and deeply reflective support for people seeking to better understand the relational and nervous-system dimensions of their autoimmune condition. This is for you if your immune system feels the need to defend you against something, but you haven’t yet fully figured out what that something is, or if you need structure to build protective strategies that can bring your immune system back into coherence.
Complex Trauma Analysis & Recovery Support
After years of psycho- and trauma-therapy and not getting any substantial relief, I realized that the reasons why I was stuck were found in culture and socio-cultural assumptions of western thought, reflected in the entire concept and practice of individual therapy that runs counter to the nature of humans, representing an abnormality within the vastness of human societies’ healing and support systems. On that background, I provide support through the 4 stages of the Sankofa Coaching Method℠ for complex trauma recovery by investigating the reasons why certain interactions and relational contacts trigger distress and how to use culture and alternative worldviews to pull yourself out of these vicious circles.
Complex trauma is a complex thing, and even ptsd has been recognized as a condition with a strongly immunological component. There is no type of therapy that holds a promise of healing for complex trauma conditions. Therapy didn’t work for me. What did help me was to dig out anthropological and medical studies as well as knowledges on human relations, to reflect on that, and strengthening these new perspectives through somatic and energetic techniques, helping me in turn to modify in practice the relations that kept causing energetic states of emergency in my immune system.
Continuous Reflective Support (30 Days)
As an additional service for clients enrolled in the Autoimmune Analysis & Recovery Support Program or the Complex Trauma Analysis & Recovery Support Program, I offer the possibility of continuous reflective support over a 30-day period.
During this time, clients may send text or voice messages (max. 30 minutes per week total) related to situations, relational dynamics, emotional activation, autoimmune triggers, or experiences connected to the themes we are working on together. This support is intended as an ongoing reflective space for processing experiences as they arise within everyday life, rather than only retrospectively during sessions. I respond within 24 hours via text or voice message. Please note that this is not crisis support or emergency care, and I am not available on-call 24/7. If you are experiencing a serious acute crisis or emergency, please contact appropriate local professional or emergency services.
This form of support is inspired in part by the anthropological method of participative observation: rather than working only with retrospective reflection, I gain deeper insight into how relational patterns, triggers, nervous-system activation, and emotional dynamics unfold within the realities of your daily life as they are happening. This allows for more grounded reflection, contextual understanding, and integration within the situations you are actually navigating. This offering is intentionally limited in order to preserve depth, presence, and sustainability. I therefore offer this support to only one client at a time.
Additional cost: $500 USD for 30 days
Spiritual Resource Coaching
During some of the most difficult periods of my own recovery journey, experiences of spiritual guidance, protection, intuition, symbolism, and meaningful connection became important sources of strength and orientation in my life. This offering is intended for people who wish to explore the spiritual dimensions of healing, intuition, meaning, relational life, and personal transformation within a grounded, reflective, and culturally informed space.
Drawing from anthropology, ethnographic knowledge, symbolic systems, spiritual traditions, reflective dialogue, and the Sankofa Coaching Method℠, I support clients in exploring practices, perspectives, and ways of living that may help cultivate a greater sense of spiritual connection, inner guidance, protection, coherence, and meaning. This work may include reflection on intuition, dreams, symbolism, ritual, ancestral and cultural frameworks, relational patterns, spirituality across cultures, and practices that help clients feel more spiritually resourced and emotionally supported within their lives.
As with my other offerings, this work is exploratory and reflective in nature. It does not promote any single belief system and is not intended as a replacement for psychological, psychiatric, or medical care.
Sessions are booked individually. At least two sessions are recommended. $125 USD per session
Plant & Natural Medicines
My own experience with autoimmune arthritis taught me that while relational, cultural, emotional, and nervous-system work can significantly support healing and regulation, there were still periods in which I needed additional forms of support when symptoms intensified or my system became strongly activated. Because pharmaceutical medications and their side effects did not feel like the right long-term path for me personally, I began extensive research into indigenous, traditional, and scientifically studied plant and natural medicines that have historically been used to support inflammation, immune regulation, pain reduction, and recovery processes associated with autoimmune conditions.
This research became an important part of my own journey and eventually contributed to the writing of my book, The Body Remembers, the Earth Heals, in which I examine more than 150 scientific studies, medical papers, and ethnobotanical sources related to plant medicines, immune regulation, and autoimmune illness. What I found particularly meaningful was discovering that some traditional plant medicines are not only historically used for inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, but are also increasingly being investigated in scientific and clinical research for their anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and potentially disease-modifying properties.
As a cultural and medical anthropologist, I offer educational and anthropological guidance regarding traditional plant medicines, ethnobotanical knowledge, and contemporary scientific research surrounding natural approaches that may support recovery from autoimmune processes. This work is intended to provide broader cultural and scientific perspective rather than individualized medical treatment recommendations. I do not diagnose, prescribe, or provide personalized medical advice, and this work is not a replacement for medical care. Anyone considering plant medicines or supplements should do so under the supervision of a qualified medical professional, especially when taking other medications, due to possible contraindications and interactions.
Anthropological Transformative Analysis & Coaching
This offering is intended for people seeking culturally informed, relational, and reflective support around life situations, emotional patterns, relational dynamics, identity questions, nervous-system overwhelm, or periods of transition and transformation. Through the 4 stages of the Sankofa Coaching Method℠, we explore how cultural assumptions, social environments, relational patterns, and inherited ways of relating may be shaping your current experience. Together, we identify what may be creating chronic tension, confusion, emotional distress, or nervous-system activation, while exploring new perspectives and possibilities for moving forward with greater coherence and agency.
Drawing from anthropology, ethnographic knowledge, trauma-informed coaching, reflective dialogue, and energetic regulation practices, I support clients in developing deeper cultural awareness, relational clarity, emotional grounding, and connection to both inner and external resources. With decades of cross-cultural experience, I approach this work with sensitivity to the emotional, cultural, symbolic, and spiritual dimensions that shape human life and identity. Depending on the themes explored, I may also research and provide relevant anthropological or ethnographic materials between sessions to support deeper reflection and integration.
This work is exploratory and reflective in nature and is not intended as a replacement for psychological, psychiatric, or medical care.
At least 2–3 sessions recommended. $125 USD per session