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Mental Disorder in Rural Ghana

ABSTRACT

In rural Ghana new shrines continue to be founded in response to a search for security begun about 40 years ago.

The commonest mental illnesses seen at these shrines are depression, acute trans ient fear-psychosis, and schizophrenia. Obsessive-compulsive states are rare but do.

Potential schizophrenics are specially vulnerable to transient fear-psychosis.

The making of bad magic against others is a schizoid type of aggression especially prone to occur in developing schizophrenia.

The incidence of chronic scbizophrema in a rural population of 4,000 was found to be about 1 per cent.

The incidence of literacy among schizophrenics was found to be about 40 per cent. as against 10 per cent. among the general population.

The incidence of first-cousin marriage among the parents of schizophrenics was found to be about 40 per cent. as against 19 per cent. among the general population.

Among supplicants at shrines, dreams are deemed highly important. Persons in similar anxiety-charged situations often have identical dreams of traditional content. Most dreams sum up the dreamer's overt situation in parabolic metaphor.

Hysterical dissociation (spirit possession) is part of the technique of priests, these being well adjusted, non-hysterical personalities. It is used therapeutically by some African-controlled Christian communities.

It is postulated that some kinds of magical ritual, animal totemism, and the male ficent powers attributed to witches were originated, historically, by schizophrenics and depressives.