Reassessing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: What Happens if We Include the Impact of Traditional Healing on Mental Illness?
Tony V Pham, Rishav Koirala, Milton L Wainberg, Brandon A Kohrt
Community mental health journal May 2021 DOI: 10.1007/s10597-020-00705-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Ethnopsychology Medical anthropology Mental health Spirituality Traditional medicine |
| Key points | The authors argue that traditional healing should be considered in addressing the mental health treatment gap, citing systematic reviews that patients can use traditional healers and qualitatively report improvement in general psychological distress and symptom reduction for common mental disorders. They contend that research funding is disproportionately low in low- and middle-income countries despite near-ubiquitous traditional healer use, and offer lessons learned for the next WHO Mental Health Action Plan. |
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.