Schizophrenia among Sesotho speakers in South Africa

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical presentation of schizophrenia among Sesotho speakers. Method: A sample of 100 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia was evaluated using the Psychiatric Interview Questionnaire. Results: Core symptoms of schizophrenia among Sesotho speakers do not differ significantly from other cultures. However, the content of psychological symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations is strongly affected by cultural variables. Somatic symptoms such as headaches, palpitations, dizziness and excessive sweating were prevalent among the Sesothospeaking participants suffering from schizophrenia. Conclusion: In South Africa, as is the case throughout the African continent, health professionals are still trained in Western models, especially DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. Certain changes should be made to these models to account for cultural differences that were found in this research.

Treatments for people living with schizophrenia in Sub‐Saharan Africa: an adapted realist review

“…In three South African studies, Mosotho et al. (), de Wet et al. () and den Hertog & Gilmoor () found that traditional and faith healers were often sought in the first instance.…”

“…Mosotho et al. () explored the main symptoms of schizophrenia exhibited by Sesotho speakers attending local mental health hospitals and found that the vast majority consulted both conventional psychiatric services and traditional or faith healers. In a Ugandan study of treatment outcomes for psychosis by traditional healers, Abbo et al.…”

“…Consequently, the risk of relapse and hospitalization were increased by a lack of family support (Burns & Kirkbride ; de Jong & Komproe ; Mosotho et al. ). A Sudanese study found that families often brought their relatives for treatment to traditional healing centres where they were ‘chained to their beds or to the room wall with no access to toilet facilities’ (Sorketti et al.…”

The content of delusions in a sample of South African Xhosa people with schizophrenia

“…For example, of those who reported persecutory delusions, 72.5% ( n  = 125) believed that others had bewitched them to bring about their mental illness, through evil spirits, “amafufunyana” or the “Tikoloshe”. This bewitchment framework has been reported to influence the content of delusions in other African samples including Sesotho people with schizophrenia from the Free State province of South Africa [Mosotho 40], and in neighboring African countries like Namibia [41], suggesting that this explanatory framework may be common in Southern African cultures. This observation aligns well with epidemiological studies that report the frequent use of spiritual causes as explanations for psychiatric illness in Southern African communities [19].…”

Perceptions of psychosocial disability amongst psychiatric service users and caregivers in South Africa

“…Traditional beliefs on causation were also common, in line with previous studies showing that attitudes, beliefs and experiences relating to schizophrenia are substantially different in South Africa from Western conceptualisations (Mbanga et al . 2002; Mosotho, Louw & Calitz 2011). Service users’ conceptualisation of their recovery from the illness was characterised by high value placed on engagement in productive activities and the ability to work as reported previously in South Africa by service users and user advocates (Kleintjes, Lund & Swartz 2012; Van Niekerk 2009;).…”