“Traditional Treatment
of Mental Illness in Western Nigeria and Kenya: Its Place,
Practice and Strategy”
Coordinator:
Dr. Charles O. Jegede
Members:
Grace Anuoluwapo Adejuwon; Felistus Kinyanjui; Eric
Nyambedha
This
project seeks to give theoretical and practical support to
traditional psychiatry and its relevance to mental well
being of Africans by comparing traditional psychiatry in
Nigeria and Kenya. In this research, we argue for the
incorporation of traditional psychiatry into active
participation in the over all mental wellness of Africans.
It also desires to create awareness regarding the need to
develop and improve mental health policy and implementation
putting in mind the role of traditional healers in the
treatment of mental illness. The argument is based on the
fact that the available western psychiatrists and the
delivery of psychiatric services can not meet up with the
demand for mental health.
In this
study, mental illness is a disease of the mind: the
psychological state of someone who has emotional or
behavioural imbalances culturally and socially serious
enough to require the intervention of family members,
community and traditional healers. The category of
traditional healers in this study are essentially concerned
with those who use indigenous methods in diagnosing,
treating and managing mental illness to promote people’s
mental well-being.
