A quantitative evaluation of traditional health practitioners’ perspectives on mental disorders in KwaZulu-Natal: knowledge, diagnosis, and treatment practices

ABSTRACT

Traditional healing practices are prominent in recent studies. Particularly, there is focused attention on holistic healing in treatment interventions for various illnesses, including mental disorders. This paper quantitatively evaluates the perspectives of traditional health practitioners (THPs) regarding their knowledge, diagnosis, and treatment practices of mental disorders, especially schizophrenia. Special attention was paid to symptoms of schizophrenia as they seem to overlap with the symptoms of bewitchment and an ancestral calling. Self-developed questionnaires were administered to 100 THPs from Harry Gwala District, KwaZulu-Natal. Black, middle-aged female THPs classified as diviners were prevalent. They reflected knowledge of mental disorders and played a role in their diagnosis and treatment. Medicinal concoction was the commonly prescribed treatment option.

KEYWORDS:

• Traditional healers
• Traditional healing
• mental health
• mental illness
• schizophrenia

Acknowledgments

The author(s) would like to extend their gratitude to the Traditional Health Practitioners from the Harry Gwala District who took time off from their work to participate and add invaluable knowledge to this study. To Dr Partson Tinarwo for their assistance with the statistical analysis in this paper. To Dr Rubeena Partab for their invaluable contribution and critical review of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDP) Staff Credentialing Funding for the year 2021 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) funding. These funds assisted with traveling and accommodation expenses during data collection for this research