Prayer camps
Prayer camps are religious alternative medicine institutions that are used for treatment of a variety of ailments in Ghana,[1][2][3][4] and Togo.[5] Purported treatment methods including beatings, forced starvation and other various forms of torture are commonly used at these facilities.[4][6]
Ghana is said to be "the most religious society in the world", with 96% of the population identifying with a particular spiritual belief.[7] Mental illness is usually seen as caused by curses or harmful spirits. The only perceived solution to this problem is through various spiritual methods (of which some violate basic human rights), with only minimal medical help being applied, such as through medication being given to patients.[8]
A 2016 Yale University study showed that both prayer camp staff and psychiatric hospital mental health professionals show interest at the idea of collaboration. Specifically, prayer camp staff are interested in help with the provision and use of medication, as well as improving the hygiene and infrastructure of prayer camps. However, prayer camp staff are highly opposed to medical explanations of mental illness, instead preferring supernatural explanations, while mental health and medical staff are concerned with the use of torture practices such as chainings. Furthermore, despite the importance of long-term medication use in patient recovery, prayer camp staff usually only endorse medication use over short periods.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "The (In)human Dimension of Ghana's Prayer Camps". Human rights watch. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
- ^ "Prayer camps chain mentally ill". BBC. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
- ^ "Ghana's prayer camps: where the mentally ill are chained, starved and abused". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
- ^ a b Mensah Adinkrah (2015-08-15). Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana. p. 22. ISBN 9781782385615. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
- ^ Carey, Benedict (11 October 2015). "The Chains of Mental Illness in West Africa". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ Vivian E D Ampadu. "The Depiction of Mental Illness in Nigerian and Ghanaian movies: A negative or positive impact on mental health awareness in Ghana" (PDF). Disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ Edwards, Jocelyn (January 2014). "Ghana's mental health patients confined to prayer camps". The Lancet. 383 (9911): 15–16. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62717-8. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 24400332. S2CID 41728845.
- ^ "Ghana Breaks The Chains On Mental Health". Human Rights Watch. 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
- ^ Arias D, Taylor L, Ofori-Atta A, Bradley EH (2016) Prayer Camps and Biomedical Care in Ghana: Is Collaboration in Mental Health Care Possible? PLoS ONE 11(9): e0162305. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162305
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