Let’s have conversation whether spiritual intervention is enough to cure mental illness

A religious Leader with mentally ill individuals under his care.

By: Asiya Mohamed

Its early in the morning, I couldn’t sleep because my neighbor’s kid was howling and crying almost half of the night.

The only thing separating our neighbor’s compound and our compound, is the wind that flaps between our shared spaces. Abdi is my neighbor’s kid, he is almost 17 years old, and Abdi has mental illness.

He was born a normal healthy baby and his family was happy. Abdi was 8 years old when got sick. The local dispensary didn’t offer any clues as to what was affecting the boy. He was treated and given medication and released.

The family brought him home, they called the religious and traditional healer to read the Quran and help them know what was affecting their son. The healer said Abdi was inhibited by a jin. The said “jin” was making the boy restless and this meant that it was affecting his mind, making him crazy, attack people, outbursts and seizures.

The “jin” made it hard for the medical staff to recognize the boy had mental illness that was entirely affecting him and his family, yet again, it was just a dispensary. The once jovial boy was now tied to a post in the family compound, a heavy duty chain and padlock tethering him to the now constant companion in his life—the post.

The chains and imprisonment are for his own good, his mother says. The tears in her eyes say it all, she is worried because the traditional healer said the jin is becoming strong, and all the family meagre earnings are spent on the traditional healer’s pocket.

“Right now, Abdi is turning 17 and getting stronger, the chain and the lock and the post can no longer hold him, and I don’t know what I will do!” His mother says.
WAALI. WAALAN. MAJNOON.

These three words may look different, but they are commonly used in the Somali community to describe one thing: crazy.
I first heard it when I was young, and I started understanding it when I grew a little older and could understand, but not actually conceptualize the words being uttered. It is a noun in the Somali dialect used to describe a crazy person. Whenever I said something weird or acted a little out of the norm, my mom might say, ‘waa waalantahay.’” (Translation: “You are crazy.”)

Mental illness is defined as a condition which causes serious disorder in a person’s behavior or thinking. And this is something our society doesn’t address, and we always seem like a society shrouded with mysteries and a lot has to with how we present ourselves, the Somali culture specifically.

We are like the other communities, accepting that we are not really that different from these other communities wouldn’t harm anyone, it will make us easily approachable and some of the mystery shrouding us will be done with.

Many Somalis suffer from mental illnesses and the significant stigma shrouding mental health issues prevents many Somalis from seeking treatment or assistance. Because we don’t believe in mental illnesses, undiagnosed mental illness is very common among our community, and it’s a fact we all don’t want to accept.
In the Somali culture, concepts of mental health only include two views on mental illness: one is crazy (waali) or one is not crazy.

Our major belief in the causes of mental illness are predominately spiritual: mental illness comes from God or evil spirits (jin); Illness can also be brought on by another person or one’s self through curses or bad behavior.

Somalis traditionally explain behavioral problems as an expected result of spiritual causes or possession by an evil spirit. Healing for these problems is provided by religious leaders or by traditional healers who treat the problem by reciting verses of the Quran to protect the person from evil spirits, or jin, just like how Abdi’s Family saw fit to ask the traditional healer, because a stint at the dispensary near the home, didn’t show any results.

Social isolation affects the mentally ill more than it helps them. Many Somalis with mental illness are socially isolated. The mentally ill are generally chained or imprisoned, and they are seen as a shame, a curse or even a burden to their families.

While a person with mental illness may be ostracized from the community, their fear of stigma may be even more powerful. Whether the ostracism is created by the community due to anticipated negative responses, the social isolation creates a profound worsening of mental illness, they self-harm, inflict pain on their family and worse of all, they can commit suicide.

With the Western medical view there is no room for religious or spiritual causes or treatments. Mind, body and spirit are perceived as separate medically. If you go to the doctor, a specialist doctor that is, most patients usually report physical symptoms separate from emotional symptoms.

In our Somali culture, the mind, body and spirit are traditionally seen as a whole and undivided. Consequently, we, Somalis are more likely to report physical pain when we are experiencing depression or sadness. Moreover, because mental illness is not conceptualized as a physical phenomenon, these physical symptoms that are present are interpreted as relevant to emotional or psychological problems are often expressed somatically as headaches, chest pain, and forgetfulness; sleep problems, nightmares and sweating. Mental health (caafimadka maskaxda) and how they are to be treated are still relatively new concepts among many Somalis.

Depression, for example, has no direct translation in Af-Somali. Instead, it is described: ‘ qalbi-jab iyo murugo joogto ah’.

Seeking assistance from a resource outside the community for these types of problems is considered shameful, and a close knit society such as the somali, these are long overdue downlows. Mental illness is a sickness that has its roots everywhere, and the key to healing is taking away the shame associated with Mental illness.

There are hospitals that can provide specialized services and diagnosises, and there are institutions for the mentally ill. These are put in place to ensure the individuals are cared for and the family will be at ease because the institution handles the situation well.

Mental illnesses don’t choose an individual to inflict, Spiritual healing is recommended, but a good diagnosis can help family be at ease with consulting the traditional healers and ensuring the individual is taken to a specialist who will also be of assistance.

Again, the key to healing is taking away the shame, and talking about it, that would be the way to educate and know we are handling the issue to our capabilities.