“It’s only ‘madness’ that I know”: analysis of how mental illness is conceptualised by congregants of selected Charismatic churches in Ghana

ABSTRACT

In Ghana, many individuals employ traditional and faith healing for treating illnesses. Although attitudes and knowledge of laypeople on mental illness have been explored, little is known about Christians’ knowledge and how the church influences such knowledge. The present study explored knowledge on definition, types and symptoms of mental illness, church teachings on mental illness and the influence of such teachings on the mental well-being of 86 congregants of six Charismatic churches in Ghana. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations, we found that knowledge surrounded psychotic disorders with a few citing other DSM/ICD categories. Regarding church teachings, some churches provided education and spiritual healing, and others emphasised non-existence of, and immunity from, mental illness. Findings showed the “double-edged” role of religion in enhancing and hindering congregants’ mental well-being. The paper concludes with an argument for psycho-education on mental illness and collaboration between churches and mental health practitioners.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• mental illness
• knowledge
• conceptualisation
• charismatism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Nagel Institute of World Christianity, Calvin College [grant number 2016-SS360] with a generous donation from John Templeton Foundation.