Frequently asked questions about African psychology: another view

The South African Journal of Psychology, in pages 273–279, of 2017, published a very important and commendable editorial by Kopano Ratele aimed at re-igniting the debate on issues surrounding ‘decades-old confusion about the definition, scope, impetus for, and ultimate aims of an African psychology within South Africa (SA)’. His incisive contribution in response to these issues was submitted under the title: Frequently asked questions about African psychology. In attempting to join this debate, the aim is not to challenge but to complement the fine responses made by Ratele (2017b) to the questions he had raised. Specifically, the aim of this article is to keep this important debate about the state of African psychology alive by showing that there are still some unexplored questions about African psychology that need to be raised and responded to. It is the conviction of the present author that it is through such debates that a better understanding of the meaning and scope, and vision and mission of the nascent academic discipline of African psychology could be achieved.

Mental health literacy: conceptions of mental illness among African residents of Sisonke District in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The prevalence of mental illness is on the rise, and there are many people with chronic or severe mental disorders who are unaware that they have a diagnosable disorder. It is plausible that this is largely because of the public’s non-alignment with biomedical understandings of mental illness which may imply a lack of mental health literacy. This study investigated conceptions and aetiological beliefs about mental illness among 787 randomly selected African residents of Sisonke District using a survey. The results show that participants did not use standard psychological nomenclature to describe mental illness, but instead used very broad, over-encompassing terms which may be indicative of their worldview. Of the three disorders investigated, depression was mainly conceptualised using psychological and medical terms, and schizophrenia and alcohol dependency were conceptualised in psychological and social terms. In addition, only schizophrenia, among the three disorders investigated, was conceptualised using supernatural descriptions such as bewitchment and ukuthwasa. The findings of this study highlight the importance of awareness campaigns that take into consideration and respect the cultural differences of the people as well as collaboration between traditional and medical practitioners.