Witchcraft has long been associated with supernatural powers and dark magic, often sparking fear and curiosity among individuals. While the belief in witchcraft varies across cultures and religions, there is a lingering question regarding its potential connection to mental illnesses, specifically schizophrenia. Schizophrenia, a chronic and severe mental disorder characterized by distorted thoughts, hallucinations, and abnormal behaviors, has been a topic of intense study and debate within the medical community. Despite significant advancements in understanding schizophrenia, its exact causes and origins remain elusive. Consequently, the possibility of witchcraft as a factor in the onset of this disorder continues to be a topic of interest. Upon examining the relationship between witchcraft and schizophrenia, it is crucial to approach the subject with a scientific and objective mindset.
First, the collected data were manually checked for its completeness and consistency. Then, it was entered the computer using EP- info version 3.5 software and exported SPSS version 20 for analysis.
Finally, respondents were asked regarding their source of information and exposure history with regard to someone with similar problems as described in the vignette. negative symptoms, thought disorders and cognitive impairment , there are marked cross-cultural differences in the content of psychotic symptoms, in outcomes and in the frequency of acute episodes.
Upon examining the relationship between witchcraft and schizophrenia, it is crucial to approach the subject with a scientific and objective mindset. Historically, witchcraft has been associated with supernatural phenomena, which are not substantiated by empirical evidence. Therefore, any hypothesis suggesting a link between witchcraft and schizophrenia must be examined through the lens of scientific research.
Schizophrenia Across Cultures
Psychiatry has long struggled to find a biological base on which to generate explanatory models of psychiatric disease, including schizophrenia, that are applicable across cultures. The discovery of effective psychopharmaceuticals and advances in functional neuroimaging show that aspects of psychiatry do have a clear biological basis. But, psychiatry, and indeed medicine in general, can only be fully understood when considered within the context of the culture in which it is practised.
Socio-cultural factors relate to psychiatry by:
- influencing the disease course
- influencing our response to it
- influencing how a disorder is defined and process of seeking help and treatment.
Cross cultural differences
Psychiatry is influenced by a culture-specific system of knowledge, power and institutions. Those with an interest in mental health wish to accumulate knowledge of how to make an accurate diagnosis and manage patients. However, the culture in which psychiatry is practised helps determine what constitutes a psychological condition and influences symptomatology.
There are differences between cultures in the prevalence of persecutory delusions much of which is culturally bound. For example, in South African Xhosa people, paranoid delusions and hallucinations are often triggered by an intense fear of magical persecution and witchcraft. In South-East Asia and China, the stressor is fear of loss of fertility through ascendance of the penis into the abdomen.
These conditions are real within the cultures in which they occur – pain and physical symptoms are experienced – even though no physiological basis for them has yet been described.
In the West, patients with schizophrenia exhibit a greater level of depressive symptoms, primary delusions and thought insertions and removals than patients in developing countries. Conversely, patients in developing countries experience more visual and acoustic hallucinations than their Western peers. 1
In a recent study a total of 1080 patients from Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana were diagnosed with schizophrenia using DSM-IV criteria. 2 Not only were differences in the incidence of each type of hallucination reported (auditory hallucinations were most common; gustatory hallucinations the least), but pronounced differences in patterns between the countries were also observed.
The study’s authors concluded that the difference in the visual hallucination rate noted between Westerners and East Asians was likely due to cultural differences in perceptual and attentional processing. They noted that Westerners pay more attention to salient objects in an image than its background, unlike East Asians who pay more attention to the image’s background. They reasoned that this difference in visual processing could account for the difference in hallucination type between these groups.
Sociocentricity influences cultural variance
Sociocentricity (defined as orientation toward society; based on social factors) is an important concept in understanding cultural variance in schizophrenia. Brekke and Barrio undertook a study investigating schizophrenia and culture and minority status in the USA. 3 Three groups were compared: Caucasian Americans, Black Americans and Latinx. Surprisingly, the non-minority group was shown to be more symptomatic than the minority groups. The sociocentricity of the minority groups was held to be the ‘protective’ factor responsible for the lower rate of symptoms.
Sociocentricity can also influence the nature of the symptoms exhibited by patients. Habel et al. showed that ethnicity can affect emotional processing and mood in schizophrenia. 4
Patients and healthy controls from three populations – American, German and Indian – underwent two tests. In the first – the Facial Emotion Discrimination Test – happy, sad and neutral Caucasian faces were shown to study subjects who were asked to identify the emotion displayed. Patients did worse than controls. However, the Indian subjects also seemed less able to judge the emotions of a different ethnic group.
Inthe second test – the Facial Mood Induction Test – happy or sad Caucasian faces were shown to study subjects who were then asked to emotionally empathise with the image. Here, the Indian groups (patient and control) again behaved differently to the others. Of particular interest was the behaviour of the Indian control group, which responded less negatively to sad images but significantly more positively to happy images than the other groups. Unlike the individualistic nature of American and German cultures, the collective nature of Indian culture, which suppresses negative emotional experiences, is thought to be responsible for this observation.
Are we pathologising normality?
Cross-cultural and racial differences don’t relate solely to symptoms but influence the whole diagnostic process. In the USA, African Americans are five time more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia rather than a less severe mood disorder than Caucasian Americans. 5
The language psychiatrists use may carry a stigma that can result in a variety of problems for the patient. In Japan, for example the term for schizophrenia was changed from ‘mind split disorder’ to ‘integration disorder’. This was because physicians were no longer using euphemisms to describe the disease and because the new terminology was more socially acceptable.
Risk factors for schizophrenia, including ethnic density and urbanicity, also vary with culture. A British study showed that the risk of schizophrenia increases as ethnic density diminishes. 6 Similar findings were reported from Sweden. 7 Similarly, urbanicity increases the risk of psychosis. 8 The case is not so clear-cut for socioeconomic status as a risk factor since published reports are conflicting. 9, 10, 11
Mental disorder symptoms can manifest themselves in different ways; therefore, alternative perspectives should be used in addition to the DSM. Ignoring cultural and social differences risks pathologizing normality and may lead to the medicalization of reactions to adverse experiences that – in their context – are understandable. 12
Socio-cultural differences in pathogenesis
Cultural influences on the way mental disorders are perceived and experienced, as well as the institutional context within which they are treated, represent another area of interest to social scientists. The mental health of vulnerable populations is a particular focus.
A meta-analysis of 21 reports investigated the distribution of schizophrenia between the general population and first- and second-generation migrants. 13 The increased risk of schizophrenia and related disorders among immigrants clearly persisted into the second generation, suggesting that post-migration factors play a more important role than pre-migration factors or migration per se. The observed variability suggests that the risk is mediated by social context.
Similar conclusions have been drawn by others. 14, 15 However, the difference in schizophrenia prevalence between the general population and migrant or ethnic minority groups might also be the result of bias arising from the use of diagnostic procedures that are not culturally sensitive.
There may also be confounding environmental factors. 16 The predominance of schizophrenia among lower social class is now considered to be a consequence of the illness (through downward social drift) and not a factor contributing towards it.
While schizophrenia is found throughout the world, and while some symptoms are similar (e.g. negative symptoms, thought disorders and cognitive impairment), there are marked cross-cultural differences in the content of psychotic symptoms, in outcomes and in the frequency of acute episodes.
Reactions to mental disorders
Socio-cultural reactions to mental disorders, which are generally spontaneous or unplanned, can have profound consequences for sufferers. Labelling, stigma, discrimination and the adoption of the sick role may negatively affect the patient’s life. 17
While the majority of those with mental disorders want to work, their employment rate is usually very low. 18, 19, 20, 21 Despite European Union and International Labour Organisation policies to reduce unemployment, social stigmatizing is multidimensional and requires a multifaceted approach to overcome.
Socio-cultural reactions can differentially impact prognosis. A WHO collaborative study showed that while newly-diagnosed patients from different cultural backgrounds were similar in their symptom profile, the course of the disease over two years was more favourable in those from developing rather than developed countries. 1
Coercive strategies vary
The EUNOMIA project studied the use of coercive measures in involuntarily admitted patients in eleven European countries and Israel. Overall, 2031 patients with psychotic illness were included, 38% of whom experienced some coercive measure.
All the countries studied used coercive measures, but these differed in nature. Involuntary medication was the most frequent (used in seven countries) but was not found in the UK, Germany and Greece. Seclusion rooms were available in only five countries and were most commonly used in the UK. Some kind of mechanical restraint was used in all centres. But, even across Europe, there is cultural variation in the coercive means used to manage patients. 22, 23
Conclusions
Psychiatry and people with mental health problems do not exist in isolation but within a larger socio-cultural context that influences their nature. This context needs to be taken into account both when treating people with mental health problems and when developing healthcare systems.
A survey done in Pakistan reported that numerous participants shared traditional perceptions including God’s will (32.3%), superstitious ideas (33.1%), loneliness (24.8%) and unemployment (19.3%) while only 30% of the participants attributed “mental illness” as the possible cause of schizophrenia [11]. Similarly, in Ghana, witchcraft/evil spirits and divine punishment were endorsed as causes of schizophrenia by 94 and 66% of the community members, respectively [12].
Numerous studies have investigated the etiology of schizophrenia, focusing on genetic, environmental, and neurobiological factors. Research has consistently shown that schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, with individuals having a family history of the disorder being at a higher risk of developing it. Environmental factors, such as prenatal complications, stressful life events, and drug abuse, have also been implicated in the onset of schizophrenia. These findings align with existing knowledge about mental illnesses and strongly support the idea that biological and environmental factors play a significant role in the development of schizophrenia. In contrast, the notion that witchcraft can directly cause schizophrenia lacks empirical evidence. Witchcraft, being a cultural and belief-based practice, lacks a scientific foundation. Mental health professionals across the globe consider schizophrenia to be a complex disorder arising from a combination of genetic, biological, and environmental factors, rather than supernatural causation. The belief in witchcraft as a factor in the onset of schizophrenia appears to stem from misconceptions, cultural superstitions, and stigmatization associated with mental illness. It is important to address these misconceptions, as they can perpetuate harmful stereotypes and hinder the understanding and treatment of schizophrenia. In conclusion, the connection between witchcraft and schizophrenia lacks scientific evidence. While witchcraft may hold cultural and historical significance, it does not have a direct causal relationship with the development of schizophrenia. The focus should remain on evidence-based research that investigates the biological, genetic, and environmental factors contributing to the onset of schizophrenia. By promoting accurate knowledge and dispelling misconceptions, society can foster a more compassionate understanding of mental illness and support those affected by schizophrenia..
Reviews for "Witchcraft beliefs, social support, and schizophrenia development: an exploratory analysis"
1. Samantha - 2/5 stars: This book was a disappointing read for me. I was hoping for a thoughtful analysis of schizophrenia, but instead, the author took a completely unfounded approach by exploring the connection between witchcraft and the onset of the condition. As someone who values evidence-based research, I found the author's argument speculative and without merit. The book lacked scientific rigor and relied heavily on anecdotes and paranormal beliefs. Overall, I cannot recommend this book to anyone looking for a serious examination of schizophrenia.
2. Daniel - 1/5 stars: I found "Can Witchcraft be a Factor in the Onset of Schizophrenia" to be utterly ridiculous. The author's attempt to link witchcraft with the development of a serious mental illness like schizophrenia was nothing more than baseless speculation. There is no scientific or empirical evidence to support such a claim, and it feels irresponsible to propagate such unfounded ideas. This book exploits vulnerable individuals who are already struggling with schizophrenia by feeding into superstitions and misconceptions. I highly discourage reading this book if you're looking for credible information on mental health.
3. Emily - 2/5 stars: While the idea of exploring unconventional factors in the onset of schizophrenia intrigued me, "Can Witchcraft be a Factor in the Onset of Schizophrenia" failed to deliver a compelling argument. The book lacked a thorough and logical analysis of the subject matter, often relying on vague references and anecdotes to support its claims. The author's reliance on supernatural explanations undermined the credibility of their argument, and I couldn't help but feel frustrated with the lack of scientific evidence or proper research methodologies. Overall, this book seemed more like a work of fiction than a scholarly examination, leaving me disappointed and unconvinced.
4. Mark - 1/5 stars: I found "Can Witchcraft be a Factor in the Onset of Schizophrenia" to be nothing more than pseudoscience. The author's attempt to connect witchcraft to the development of a complex mental illness like schizophrenia lacked any basis in scientific research or credible evidence. The book read more like a conspiracy theory than a serious exploration of the subject matter. I strongly advise avoiding this book if you're seeking accurate information on mental health conditions.