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Explanatory models and concepts of West African Malian patients with psychotic symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

F. Napo ,
A. Heinz  and
A. Auckenthaler
F. Napo*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Berlin, Germany Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
A. Heinz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Berlin, Germany
A. Auckenthaler
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
*
*Corresponding Author. E-mail address:fnapo@zedat.fu-berlin.de (F. Napo)
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Abstract

Background

Subjective explanations of illness concepts and disease can differ from culture to culture. We examined explanatory models of West African patients with schizophrenia in a communitycentred department of psychiatry in Mali, West Africa.

Methods

Patients and experts volunteered to be interviewed in the Department of Psychiatry of the University Hospital, Pont G, in Bamako, the capital of Mali. We used semi-structured interviews to explore key psychotic symptoms and explanatory models of psychosis in five experts and fifteen patients with schizophrenia. All interviews were analysed using computer assisted content-analysis with the program Atlas.ti.

Results

African patients displayed key symptoms of schizophrenia such as commenting and imperative voices, inserted thoughts and other phenomena of alien control, which were often subjectively explained as obsession by witches or jinns. Explanatory models differed depending on occidental migration experience and age. The involvement of family members in the treatmentsetting facilitates inclusion and recovery. Experts emphasized the need to integrate traditional and ethno-pharmacological approaches and modern medicine to treat their patients in a culture sensitive manner.

Discussion

Our data suggests a strong influence of illness concepts on the experience of psychotic symptoms, treatment expectations and health-related behaviour.

Keywords

Transcultural psychologyIllness conceptsWest African patientsSchizophreniaMigrationPsychotic symptomsExplanatory modelsCommunity psychology
Type
Research Article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 27 , Issue S2: Migration and Mental Health , June 2012 , pp. S44 - S49
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS

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