“The Question Is Not How but Why Things Happen”
South African Traditional Healers’ Explanatory Model of Mental Illness, Its Diagnosis and Treatment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18978413 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sinethemba Shange (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg-Braamfontein, Gauteng, South Africa), E Ro (0000-0003-4325-1283, University of Johannesburg Centre for Social Development in Africa, Faculty of Humanities, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 503-521 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0221 • E-ISSN: 1552-5422 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00220221221077361 |
| OpenAlex | W4220694341 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 35 |
While there is relatively high patronage of traditional healers in South Africa, their approaches toward mental illness remain shrouded in mystery. The research therefore explored the beliefs and practices of traditional healers at Dube Village, Soweto, South Africa regarding the reasons for and treatment of mental illness and was guided by an Afrocentric theoretical perspective. Qualitative interviews with 14 traditional healers revealed that mental illness could be identified by throwing the bones, observations, and history-taking. They attributed mental illness to spiritual, socio-cultural, psychosocial, and physical factors. Methods used to treat mental illness included removing evil spirits through washing, steaming, induced vomiting, and administering herbal remedies. Findings suggest that while there are many similarities with biomedicine, traditional healing differs in terms of its links with spirituality and the efforts of healers to answer the question why things happen from a collectivist perspective
Alternative medicine · Biomedicine · Mental health · Mental illness · Perspective (graphical) · Psychiatry · Psychosocial · Psychotherapist · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Spirituality · Traditional medicine · African cultural and philosophical studies · Community Health and Development · Medicine · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |