Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T18:04:03.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Community Psychology and a Fresh Look at Faith Healing Camps

Experiences in Ghana

from Part III - Community Psychology in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Affiliation:
Long Island University, New York
Get access

Summary

According to the World Health Organization (1995), the optimum mix of mental health services in a country should include, to a large extent, personal care and community services that are typically homegrown and culturally compatible with the ethos and beliefs of a people. In Ghana, available community services include a blend of traditional faith healing services as well as conventional Western orthodox psychiatric services. The practices of faith healers have not been extensively regulated and there have been many reported abuses. In this chapter, we describe the blend of services available in Ghana, a randomized control study of the augmentation of faith healing with medication, a qualitative study of beliefs regarding the causation of mental illness, and the impact on these beliefs of observing the randomized control trial. We conclude with some reflections on the ethics of doing research in a faith healing camp and on how faith healing camps may be reoriented and transformed into centers of recovery.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Community Psychology
Interdisciplinary and Contextual Perspectives
, pp. 367 - 389
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ae-Ngibise, K., Cooper, S., Adiibokah, E., et al. (2010). ‘Whether you like it or not people with mental problems are going to go to them’: A qualitative exploration into the widespread use of traditional and faith healers in the provision of mental health care in Ghana. International Review of Psychiatry, 22(6), 558567. doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2010.536149CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appiah-Poku, J., Laugharne, R., Mensah, E., Osei, Y., & Burns, T. (2004). Previous help sought by patients presenting to mental health services in Kumasi, Ghana. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39(3), 208211. doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2010.536149Google Scholar
Arias, D., Taylor, L., Ofori-Atta, A., & Bradley, E. H. (2016). Prayer camps and biomedical care in Ghana: Is collaboration in mental health care possible? PLoS ONE, 11(9), Article e0162305. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162305Google Scholar
Canavan, M. E., Sipsma, H. L., Adhvaryu, A., et al. (2013). Psychological distress in Ghana: Associations with employment and lost productivity. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 7(1), Article 9. doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-7-9Google Scholar
De Jong, S., Van Donkersgoed, R. J. M., Timmerman, M. E., et al. (2019). Metacognitive reflection and insight therapy (MERIT) for patients with schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 49(2), 303313. doi.org/10.1017/S0033291718000855Google Scholar
Eaton, J., & Ohene, S. (2016). Providing sustainable mental health care in Ghana: A demonstration project. In Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Board on Global Health, et al. Providing sustainable mental and neurological health care in Ghana and Kenya: Workshop summary (pp. 183232). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Ferrari, A. J., Charlson, F. J., Norman, R. E., et al. (2013). Burden of depressive disorders by country, sex, age, and year: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. PLoS Medicine, 10(11). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001547Google Scholar
Fosu, G. B. (1995). Women’s orientation toward help-seeking for mental disorders. Social Science & Medicine, 40(8), 10291040. doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)00170-XCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerson, L. D., & Rose, L. E. (2012). Needs of persons with serious mental illness following discharge from inpatient treatment: Patient and family views. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 26(4), 261271. doi.org/10.1016/J.APNU.2012.02.002Google Scholar
Goldstein, M. J., & Miklowitz, D. J. (1995). The effectiveness of psychoeducational family therapy in the treatment of schizophrenic disorders. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 21(4), 361376. doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.1995.tb00171.xGoogle Scholar
Ighodaro, A., Stefanovics, E., Makanjuola, V., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2015). An assessment of attitudes towards people with mental illness among medical students and physicians in Ibadan, Nigeria. Academic Psychiatry, 39, 280285. doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0169-9Google Scholar
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. (2002, May 7). Ghana Ashanti widow rituals, steps required, whether the widow can refuse to participate, whether she would be required to marry her husband’s relative, and consequences for refusal (Document GHA38600.E). www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be3520.htmlGoogle Scholar
Kaskutas, L. A. (2009). Alcoholics Anonymous effectiveness: Faith meets science. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 28(2), 145157. doi.org/10.1080/10550880902772464CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kpobi, L., & Swartz, L. (2018). “That is how the real mad people behave”: Beliefs about and treatment of mental disorders by traditional medicine men in Accra, Ghana. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 64(4), 309316. doi.org/10.1177/0020764018763705Google Scholar
Kpobi, L., Swartz, L., & Ofori-Atta, A. L. (2018). Challenges in the use of the mental health information system in a resource-limited setting: Lessons from Ghana. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 18. doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-2887-2Google Scholar
Lamensdorf, A. M. (1990). Socio-economic development and mental health in Ghana. In Arnold, S. & Nitechi, A. (Eds.), Culture and development in Africa (pp. 203210). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press Inc.Google Scholar
Mental Health Authority of Ghana. (2018). 2017 annual report. Accra, Ghana: Bayuti Enterprise.Google Scholar
Mental Health Law. (2012). Act 846. www.refworld.org/pdfid/528f243e4.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ofori-Atta, A., Attafuah, J., Jack, H., Baning, F., Rosenheck, R., & Joining Forces Research Consortium. (2018). Joining psychiatric care and faith healing in a prayer camp in Ghana: Randomised trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(1), 3441. doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2017.12Google Scholar
Ofori-Atta, A., Bradley, E., & Nyonator, F. (2013). Increasing access to primary mental health care through task shifting: Embracing a new cadre of graduates in psychology in primary health care in Ghana. Paper presentation, Scientific Conference, Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, London. Also presented at the 3rd Annual Joint Conference of the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology.Google Scholar
Ofori-Atta, A., Ketor, R., & Bradley, R. (2014). Positioning a new cadre of community workers into the mental health system of a low resourced country: The case of Ghana. Presented at the 2014 Annual Convention of the South African Society of Psychiatrists, Durban.Google Scholar
Ofori-Atta, A., & Linden, W. (1995). The effect of social change on causal beliefs of mental disorders and treatment preferences in Ghana. Social Science & Medicine, 40(9), 12311242. doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)00248-RGoogle Scholar
Patel, V. (2018). Commentary on joining psychiatric care and faith healing in a prayer camp in Ghana: Randomized trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(1), 3441. doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2017.12Google Scholar
Quinn, N. (2007). Beliefs and community responses to mental illness in Ghana: The experiences of family carers. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 53(2), 175188. doi.org/10.1177/0020764006074527CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, M., Mogan, C., & Asare, J. B. (2014). An overview of Ghana’s mental health system: Results from an assessment using the World Health Organization’s Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS). International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 8, Article 16. doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-8-16Google Scholar
Rousseau, C., & Frounfelker, R. L. (2019). Mental health needs and services for migrants: An overview for primary care providers. Journal of Travel Medicine, 26(2). doi.org/10.1093/jtm/tay150.Google Scholar
Sipsma, H., Chen, P., Ofori-Atta, A., et al. (2012). Female genital cutting: Current practices and beliefs in West Africa. WHO Bulletin, 90(2), 120127. doi.org/10.2471/blt.11.090886Google Scholar
Sipsma, H., Ofori-Atta, A., Canavan, M., et al. (2013). Poor mental health in Ghana: Who is at risk? BMC Public Health, 13(1), Article 288. doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-288CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Small, M. L. (2015). De-exoticizing ghetto poverty: On the ethics of representation in urban ethnography. City & Community, 14(4), 352358. doi.org/10.1111/cico.12137CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, P., Beck, S., & Gordon, B. (1988). Family members’ perspectives on psychiatric hospitalization and discharge. Community Mental Health Journal, 24(2), 108117. doi.org/10.1007/BF00756653Google Scholar
Sorketti, E. A., Zainal, N. Z., & Habil, M. H. (2012). The characteristics of people with mental illness who are under treatment in traditional healer centres in Sudan. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 58(2), 204216. doi.org/10.1177/0020764010390439Google Scholar
Stefanovics, E., He, H., Tavares Cavalcanti, M., et al. (2016). Witchcraft and bio- psychosocial causes of mental illness: Attitudes and beliefs about mental illness among health professionals in five nations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diease, 204(3), 169174. doi.org/10.1097/nmd.0000000000000422CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Mental Health and Poverty Project. (2010). Mental health policy development and implementation in four African countries (HD6). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08af9e5274a31e00008b2/MHaPP_Final_Report_forR4D.pdfGoogle Scholar
US Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2019). Country reports on human rights practices for 2018: Ghana 2018 human rights report. www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ghana-2018.pdfGoogle Scholar
Whiteford, H. A., Degenhardt, L., Rehm, J., et al. (2013). Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet, 382(9904), 15751586. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61611-6Google Scholar
World Health Organization. (2005). Mental health policy and service guidance package: Human resources and training in mental health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×