Collaborating with Traditional and Faith Healers in Mental Health: A Public Health Approach

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in collaboration between biomedical services and traditional and faith healers for mental health care. In this article, we briefly outline recent research in this area and discuss some of the challenges to collaboration, particularly in relation to the care of people living with serious mental illness (SMI). Several approaches to collaborative mental health care have been attempted primarily in Africa, but also in Asia. Challenges to these collaborations include mutual distrust, power differentials, conceptual and methodological problems, and a lack of organizational support and resources. Importantly, the perspectives of people with lived experiences of mental illness are seldom considered. Research suggests that “bottom-up” approaches using community engagement, dialogue, and mutual learning may enable more effective and sustainable collaboration. We identify a need for greater involvement of people with lived experience of mental illness and their families and consider the potential of a public mental health approach in which collaborations are embedded within communities and existing support structures and accompanied by policies and interventions to address social as well as spiritual and medical needs.