‘I still believe...’Reconstructing spirituality, culture and mental health across cultural divides

Abstract

Whilst striving to create a balanced and healthy life, individuals experience challenges across their life span. Spirituality can contribute to mental health and well-being, as can cultural constructs. In South Africa, apartheid categories are still vivid, which affect spiritual, cultural and racial mental constructs and impact on the mental health of individuals across cultural groups. This article focuses on the long-term development of spiritual and cultural concepts within a selected individual in Cape Town, South Africa, during 11 years of field work. It also explores the impact of spirituality and culture on the researcher–researched relationship. A mixed-method approach was used, including various qualitative methods of data collection as well as content analysis to analyse the data and intersubjective validation to interpret them. Findings show a strong intrapersonal interlinkage of spirituality, culture and mental health and the researcher–researched relationship having a strong impact on spiritual, cultural and mental health constructions.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. ()

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere thanks to L for his long-term cooperation and the many transcultural insights he provided.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.