Reassessing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: What Happens if We Include the Impact of Traditional Healing on Mental Illness?
Authors
Tony MD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, 2213 Elba Street, Durham, NC 27705, United States
Rishav MD
University of Oslo, Problemveien 7, 0315 Oslo, Norway
Milton MD
Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, 10032, USA
Brandon PhD
Duke Global Health Institute, 310 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710, United States
Keywords:
spirituality, mental health, shamanism, medical anthropology, traditional medicine, ethnopsychology
Abstract
In this Fresh Focus, we reassess what the mental health treatment gap may mean if we consider the role of traditional healing. Based on systematic reviews, patients can use traditional healers and qualitatively report improvement from general psychological distress and symptom reduction for common mental disorders. Given these clinical implications, some high-income countries have scaled up research into traditional healing practices, while at the same time in low-and middle-income countries, where the use of traditional healers is nearly ubiquitous, considerably less research funding has studied or capitalized on this phenomena. The World Health Organization 2003–2020 Mental Health Action Plan called for government health programs to include traditional and faith healers as treatment resources to combat the low- and middle-income country treatment gap. Reflection on the work which emerged during the course of this Mental Health Action Plan revealed areas for improvement. As we embark on the next Mental Health Action Plan, we offer lessons-learned for exploring potential relationships and collaborations between traditional healing and biomedicine.
Keywords: spirituality, mental health, shamanism, medical anthropology, traditional medicine, ethnopsychology
Author Biographies
Tony MD
, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, 2213 Elba Street, Durham, NC 27705, United States
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