Traditional health practitioners' understanding of spirit possession in Gauteng province, South Africa.
Ellen M Thobakgale, Roinah Ngunyulu, Mavis Mulaudzi
Health SA Gesondheid 2024 DOI: 10.4102/hsag.v29i0.1887 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Hermeneutic phenomenology Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 12 |
| Population | Traditional health practitioners in Gauteng province, South Africa |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Culture Hermeneutic Religion Spirit possession Spiritual illness Traditional health practitioners Understanding |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Traditional health practitioners understand spirit possession as spiritual illness, ancestral calling, or demonic spirit or witchcraft, not as mental illness. |
Abstract
Traditional health practitioners (THPs) understand spirit possession as a cultural or religious spirit occupying a person, while the mental healthcare providers understand it as a mental illness. The different understanding is based on manifestations that mimic that of mental illness, such as seeing and hearing things that others cannot see or hear. Spirit possession holds different meanings in different cultures and religions that could be either beneficial or detrimental. Furthermore, spirit possession is understood as a channel of communication between the living and the dead or God or a supernatural phenomenon in which a spirit owns a person. This study explored and interpreted THPs' understanding of spirit possession in Gauteng province, South Africa. Hermeneutic phenomenology study explored and interpreted the THPs' understanding of spirit possession in Gauteng province. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 12 THPs who were selected through snowball sampling techniques. Data analysis followed Heidegger's and Gadamer's philosophies and Van Manen's six steps of the analytic approach. The findings revealed that THPs understood spirit possession as spiritual illness, ancestral calling and demonic spirit or witchcraft. Traditional health practitioners' understanding of spirit possession could promote mental health and prevent mental illness by providing support to a spirit-possessed person and referral to mental healthcare services. This study contributed that not all manifestations presented by persons with spirit possession are actual and clear-cut mental illness, but could be unwritten cultural and/ or religious illnesses that needs cultural and religious services also.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualitative thematic analysis of the phenomenology of near-death experiences Cardiac arrest survivors | 2018 | Qualitative study | n = 34 |
| Phenomenology and Sequelae of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Use Psychiatrists who had taken MDMA | 1992 | Qualitative study | n = 20 |
| A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners | 2014 | Qualitative study | |
| Evoking the ineffable: The phenomenology of extreme sports. Extreme sports participants across three continents, including BASE jumping, big wave... | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 15 |
| Phenomenology and content of the inhaled N, N-dimethyltryptamine (N, N-DMT) experience. Naturalistic inhaled N,N-DMT experiences posted to the r/DMT Reddit community | 2022 | Qualitative analysis | n = 3,778 |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- Spirit Possession Revisited: Beyond Instrumentality Annual Review of Anthropology October 1, 1994
- Haunted by ghosts: prevalence, predictors and outcomes of spirit possession experiences among former child soldiers and war-affected civilians in Northern Uganda. Social Science & Medicine August 1, 2012
- The epidemiology of spirit possession in the aftermath of mass political violence in Mozambique. Social Science & Medicine August 1, 2010
- More Things in Heaven and Earth: Spirit Possession, Mental Disorder, and Intentionality. Journal of Medical Humanities September 1, 2020
- Differential executive functioning in the topology of Spirit possession or dissociative disorders: an explorative cultural study. BMC Psychiatry December 2, 2019
and 2 more in the library