Holy water and biomedicine: a descriptive study of active collaboration between religious traditional healers and biomedical psychiatry in Ethiopia
BJPsych Open March 9, 2023 Yonas Baheretibeb, Dawit Wondimagegn, Samuel Law
A collaboration between religious healers and psychiatrists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, proved feasible and has operated successfully for 8 years. Over half (54%) of the 1888 patients seen were first-time users of biomedical services, and 26% were referred directly by priest healers. Most patients had severe mental illness: schizophrenia (40%), substance misuse (24%), and mood disorders (30%). A vast majority (92.2%) were comfortable receiving holy water and prayers alongside medication, and 73.6% attributed their illness to evil spirit possession. The cross-system model can help scale up mental healthcare where biomedical resources are limited, provided practitioners accept the cultural strengths of traditional healing.