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The traditional belief system in relation to mental health and psychiatric services in Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

E. A. Sorketti ,
N. Z. Zuraida  and
M. H. Habil
E. A. Sorketti
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, email [email protected]
N. Z. Zuraida
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, email [email protected]
M. H. Habil
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, email [email protected]
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Traditional healers' centres may constitute community resources for people with a mental illness. Many low-income countries are seeking to integrate mental health into their mainstream health services and primary healthcare, so as to decrease the duration of untreated illness. Traditional healers can help to meet these needs. A series of four studies has been conducted in central Sudan. In-patients with mental disorders undergoing treatment with traditional healers were recruited, as well as some of the healers themselves. The resulting observations should help practitioners trained in Western psychiatry to better understand traditional healing as an alternative healthcare system. The results should contribute to current debates on whether or not traditional healers in Africa should be officially recognised as healthcare providers. They should also deepen social scientists' understanding of the role of culture in mental health and help policy makers to improve mental health services.

Type
Research papers
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 18 - 19
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2012

Footnotes

The authors express their gratitude to all those with mental disorders in the traditional healers' centres and their families and relatives who answered our research questions. They were our essential guides and teachers for the better understanding of traditional healing and mental illness. We would also like to thank the traditional healers and their assisting therapists for welcoming the research teams.

References

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Sorketti, E. A., Zuraida, N. Z. & Habil, M. H. (2010) Collaboration between traditional healers and psychiatrists in Sudan. International Psychiatry, 7, 71–74.10.1192/S1749367600005907CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sorketti, E. A., Zainal, N. Z. & Habil, M. H. (2011) The characteristics of people with mental illness who are under treatment in traditional healer centres in Sudan. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, doi 10.1177/0020764010390439.Google Scholar
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