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.

Attitudes toward Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental Illness in the Central Eastern Cape of South Africa

A survey of attitudes held by a large sample of university students as well as by smaller samples of psychologists, general medical practitioners, members of the public, psychiatric hospital staff and patients in the central eastern Cape toward mental illness and mental health-care service providers was conducted during the early part of 1994. It was found that marked differences existed between the different samples and that the extent of a person's knowledge about mental illness, as well as the degree of contact with mental-health professionals and their services, were important influences on the attitudes of respondents. In particular, third-year psychology students tended to be more negatively disposed to psychiatric treatment than those students in their first year of study. Conversely, the attitudes of final-year students toward the discipline of psychology were more positive than those held by students in their first year of studying psychology. Within both the student and the patient samples, only a small minority indicated that they would first seek help from general medical practitioners if they were ever to contemplate taking their own lives or if they were seriously mentally ill. Psychiatric patients and service providers indicated their confidence in psychiatric treatment and the psychiatrist was considered to be the most appropriate professional to deal with mental illness. Members of the general public were found to be more optimistic than psychologists about the efficacy of psychological and psychiatric treatment, but less so than general medical practitioners. Although mental health-care professionals were viewed in a favourable light, most respondents indicated that they would nevertheless prefer to approach a friend in times of psychological distress.

Research on Cross-Cultural Counselling and Psychotherapy: Implications for the South African Context

Training programmes in cross-cultural competencies have focused on the three interrelated areas of knowledge, awareness and skills. Cross-cultural theorists have found that many Third World clients experience the values of counselling to be inconsistent with their life experiences. Owing to the influence of western variables which operate as potential sources of conflict such clients also often view therapy as an unknown, mystifying process. A major implication of the article is that because of the mismatch between western psychology theory and a Third World environment, the theory and practice of psychology in South Africa may be said to reflect the therapist's encapsulation and lack of cross-cultural competencies. Such competencies are of significance for facilitating a meaningful therapeutic encounter and for the subsequent delivery of relevant psychological services.

Issues in the Integration of Traditional African Healing and Western Counselling in School Psychological Practice

The relevance of integrating traditional African healing and Western counselling in psychological practice in South Africa is debated from both functional and sociopolitical perspectives. Within a description of traditional beliefs, customs and healing practices, conflicts experienced by people in a state of cultural transition are outlined. Three school psychology case studies are presented as illustrative of such conflicts and of the relative efficacy of integrated intervention in the resolution of these sorts of problem.

Applying First-World Psychological Models and Techniques in a Third-World Context

Aspects of the indigenous healing system in contemporary South African society

Anthropological research in recent years has clearly shown that health service programmes of technologically advanced societies cannot simply be transplanted to developing societies without taking specific cultural factors into account (Loudon, 1976; Kleinman, 1980; Jansen, 1982). The extensive practice of traditional healing in South Africa has long been established and appears to be gaining momentum (Holdstock, 1979). The different needs of First- and Third-world peoples within South Africa, as manifested in the existence of cultural-specific mental health care and educational systems, are indeed compelling reasons for examining the situation.

Doctors and demons

Mrs MB is a 68-year-old woman of Bangladeshi origin who presented to the acute stroke unit with dense right-sided hemiplegia. Computed tomography scanning confirmed that she had had an acute infarction of the left middle cerebral artery territory. Her past medical history included type 2 diabetes mellitus of 14 years' duration. Apart from serum cholesterol of 6.5 mmol/litre there were no other risk factors for cerebral infarction identified. On admission she was not taking an antiplatelet agent or statin.

She denied having previously suffered a stroke. She was widowed and had been independent with all aspects of daily living.

On further discussions with her daughter it came to light that Mrs MB had experienced mild weakness and ‘lack of feeling’ in her right arm and leg approximately 4 years ago. This was thought to be caused by what is literally translated from Bangla as ‘evil or demonic wind’. At the time she urgently consulted the help of a local spiritual healer in East London as recommended by neighbours and family. The diagnosis of a ‘demonic processes’ was confirmed by the healer who massaged the affected limbs with ‘holy’ water. The patient's symptoms resolved completely within hours so a consultation with her GP was not sought.

Assessing African medicinal plants for efficacy and safety: pharmacological screening and toxicology

This paper reviews progress in establishing the scientific rationale for and safety of traditional medicine use in Africa. Selected plants were screened for antibacterial, antifungal, anthelmintic, anti-amoebic, antischistosomal, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, as well as psychotropic and neurotropic activity using appropriate in vitro tests. Isolation of active compounds, in almost all cases, provided scientific validation for the use of the plants in traditional medicine. Although plants used medicinally are widely assumed to be safe, many are potentially toxic. Where poisoning from traditional medicines has been reported, it is usually because the plants used have been misidentified in the form in which they are sold, or incorrectly prepared and administered by inadequately trained personnel. The issue of quality control may, in the interim, be addressed using chromatographic techniques.

Screening of Zulu medicinal plants for prostaglandin-synthesis inhibitors

Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of 39 plants used in traditional Zulu medicine to treat headache or inflammatory diseases were screened for prostaglandin-synthesis inhibitors. Extracts were tested in an in vitro assay for cyclooxygenase inhibitors. In general, ethanolic extracts caused higher inhibition than aqueous extracts. Two-thirds of the plants screened had high inhibitory activity. The highest inhibition was obtained with ethanolic extracts of Bidens pilosa, Eucomis autumnalis, Harpephyllum caffrum, Helichrysum nudifolium, Leonotis intermedia, L. leonorus, Ocotea bullata, Rumex saggitatus, Solanum mauritianum, Synadenium cupulare and Trichilia dregeana.

Plants used for stress-related ailments in traditional Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho medicine. Part 1: Plants used for headaches

The usage and indications of possible therapeutic and harmful effects of 96 plants reported to be used for headaches in traditional Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho medicine are reviewed. Although few pharmacological studies have been undertaken on the plants used, related usage by other ethnic groups and known properties in related plants indicate significant possible analgesic, decongestant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic or sedative properties. Observations made by healers indicate an acute awareness of some of the potentially toxic compounds likely to be found in the plants. Most of the medicines are snuffed or inhaled. Both the routes of administration and the plants used merit further investigation.

Third world or one world: Mysticism, pragmatism, and pain in family therapy in South Africa

The development of psychological services for South Africa's 30 million black people has been stunted by the mystical view, allegedly derived from cross-cultural psychology, that ‘first-world’ psychology is culturally inappropriate for a ‘third-world clientele’, and that for effective service delivery, psychologists must undergo a radical acculturation process before they can join with the epistemology of this clientele. A theoretical base is developed to challenge the simplistic and desocialized notions of culture and race advanced by the cross-cultural mystics, and to propose a pragmatic alternative by drawing attention to the dynamics of oppression and cultural transformation, and to issues of power and social class. It is argued that empowerment in the process of psychotherapy lies in creating a shared language of negotiation and respect which in turn allows for the appropriate use of a problem-oriented family therapy model.

A Pilot Study of World View of Black and White South African Adolescent Pupils: Implications for Cross-Cultural Counselling

Research on cross-cultural counselling and psychotherapy began to receive emphasis in the 1970s in the United States. In South Africa the need to devise relevant help for the majority black population and to contextualize psychological services is being increasingly addressed in the literature. In the present study differences in world view between black and white South African adolescent pupils ( n = 200) were investigated. The use of a scale to assess world view across culture indicated significant differences in black and white adolescent pupils’ world view in the areas of Human Nature, Human Relationships, People-Nature, Time Orientation, and Activity. The effect of age and sex on individual variation in scores within groups was also investigated. The implications of the findings of the study for cross-cultural counselling are discussed as well as recommendations for further research using the World View Scale.

Psychology, mental health care and the future: is appropriate transformation in post-apartheid South Africa possible?

In accepting the principles that psychology and politics are intertwined and that major political transformation in South Africa is inevitable, the question that arises is to what extent appropriate transformation of the mental health care system is possible in a post-Apartheid state. A variety of factors need to be considered in exploring this question: the affordability of extending the mental health service; the expense of tertiary care; the increased demand for treatment; Apartheid mental health professionals' resistance to change; the inclusion of non-professionals within the care system, and community involvement; and the problems posed by having residential areas still occupied by certain racial groups in a post-Apartheid society. All these factors are likely to make the transformation of psychology and the mental health care system more difficult to achieve.

Traditional and modern medicine in South Africa: a research study

This paper examines the relationship between traditional and modern medicine with reference to an experimental research study conducted in South Africa, which focused on interviews by traditional Zulu healers and modern clinical psychologists with the same group of psychiatric patients. Results indicated that while traditional and modern practitioners worked from different theoretical orientations, they were in significant agreement as to both diagnosis and treatment of patients when faced with the same limited choice of options. Furthermore, patients perceived both traditional and modern practitioners as being more or less equally helpful. Results are compared with those of other studies. Local and international implications for the relationship between traditional and modern medicine are discussed.

Psychology in South Africa Belongs to the Colonial Era. Arrogance or Ignorance?

Psychology grew out of the European and North American soil, which, according to several African authors, is impoverished in soul and poor in spirit. It is to such psychology that we in South Africa bow our heads. In doing so we do ourselves a disservice, for there is in sub-Sahara Africa a psychological dimension which has a great deal to offer the rest of the world. Southern Africa's psychological potential is especially apparent with respect to the holistic principle — the importance of the majority of her people attach to the physical, spiritual and interpersonal dimensions of being.

In contrast to Africa's holistic approach the framework of ‘bigoted rationalism and fanatic adherence to outer physical reality’, characteristic of western society, has created a dehumanized psychology, particularly apparent in South Africa. Not only is there no understanding or need to understand and know about the psychological principles underlying life in Africa, but psychology seems to be oblivious to the immense human drama being enacted within the borders of our country. The psychological profession fails to facilitate communication between the races and develop the empathic ability of white people.

In the light of the present political climate, an interesting feature of South African psychology is the fact that Afrikaans speaking departments at universities are generally adhering closer to the ‘more’ human ‘Rogerian’ than the ‘less’ human ‘Skinnerian’ approach to therapy. Yet Rogers' concern for the dignity and worth of each individual is not implemented in the larger social context. Most of the English medium departments, adhering to a politically more liberal policy which claims to acknowledge the human rights of all citizens, paradoxically pay very little attention to the Rogerian approach.