The role of culture and faith healers in the treatment of mood disorders in rural versus urban areas in United Arab Emirates

An insight into frequency and predictors leading psychiatric patients to visit faith healers: A hospital-based cross-sectional survey, Karachi, Pakistan

“…Cultural norms and family pressures have been found to largely determine health-seeking practices of psychiatric patients, considering that most of the patients were directed toward a faith healer by their relatives. These results are comparable with previous studies (Kar, 2008; Sherra et al, 2017). This further augments the idea of patients’ preference for his or her first visit to a faith healer based on the advice and/or opinion of others around, which have been suggested to be in the form of a relative in most instances.…”

“…This phenomenon is particularly observed in psychiatric patients from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), who consult traditional faith healers before seeking medical help, as stated by Gureje et al (2015) and Burns and Tomita (2015). Previous studies have highlighted some additional pertinent factors associated with seeking help from traditional healers, economic status, family predilection, belief in the presence of spirits or curses and failure of medical treatment being some of them (Burns & Tomita, 2015; Sherra, Shahda, & Khalilb, 2017). This calls for the need to visit traditional faith healers, who form a major part of the mental health workforce globally.…”

Knowledge, attitude and health-seeking behavior among family caregivers of mentally ill patients at Assiut University Hospitals: a cross-sectional study

“…The belief in traditional healing is strongly held in the Arab world and is transmitted through generations. A study in the United Arab Emirates showed that about 60% of bipolar disorder patients attending the psychiatric clinics at Al Rashid Hospital, Dubai had visited faith healers before seeking medical services [25]. The usage of traditional medicine as a tool for the treatment of psychiatric patients is not limited to Arabic or Middle East countries.…”

Role of traditional healers in the pathway of service for a sample of obsessive compulsive disorder patients in Egypt

“…As healers interpret the type of illness and prescribe how it will be treated, the same illness could be interpreted and treated differently according to another (Mbwayo et al, 2013). Culture plays a critical role in healthcare delivery, as people have different ways of communication, religious beliefs and standards, family structures, and health beliefs and practices that affect how they behave and interact with the medical service (Sherra et al, 2017). Culture has been described as an ‘inherited lens through which individuals and communities perceive and understand the world that they inhabit, and learn how to live within’ (Kleinman, 1997).…”