The Journal of nervous and mental disease
July 1, 2006
Victor Igreja, Wim Kleijn, Annemiek Richters
42 citations
Prolonged exposure to civil war in central Mozambique leads to sequential traumatic experiences for most women, producing ill health that ranges from posttraumatic stress symptoms to episodes of spirit possession (gamba). These effects impair women's ability to conceive and raise children and marginalize their social position. The study assessed 91 women using quantitative and qualitative methods. The authors recommend careful analysis of women's specific problems and needs in postwar contexts, along with systematic examination of available resources that may aid trauma recovery.
International journal of mental health systems
January 1, 2014
Marjolein Van Duijl, Wim Kleijn, Joop De Jong
41 citations
In southwestern Uganda, spirit possession is a common way people express distress linked to traumatic experiences. Among 119 patients referred by traditional healers, two-thirds initially sought medical help for physical symptoms, which later developed into dissociative possession symptoms. After an average of two help-seeking steps, 99% found satisfactory explanations and effective healing from traditional healers. Healing sessions involved summoning possessing agents to identify underlying problems, such as neglect of rituals, family responsibilities, the call to become a healer, witchcraft, grief, and land conflicts. The findings suggest that traditional healing can restore connections across social and spiritual worlds without necessarily addressing individual traumatic experiences directly.
Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology
September 1, 2013
Marjolein Van Duijl, Wim Kleijn, Joop De Jong
30 citations
Spirit possession is a common way Ugandans express distress. This study examined how local possession symptoms align with DSM-IV and proposed DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Using interviews and a symptom checklist with 119 possessed patients, researchers identified two symptom dimensions: passive (e.g., feeling influenced by outside powers, strange dreams, hearing voices) and active (e.g., shaking, talking in a spirit's voice). Local symptoms matched DSM-IV possession trance disorder and DSM-5 dissociative identity disorder criteria, but passive-influence experiences were not well captured. The authors argue that these experiences should be more explicitly described in DSM-5 criteria and question the proposed merging of possession trance disorder into dissociative identity disorder.