Madness or sadness? Local concepts of mental illness in four conflict-affected African communities

Table 2 Perceived aetiology of locally defined conditions in four African settings

	Supernatural	Natural	Psychosocial
Kwajena (South Sudan)
Moul	Spirits of dead people (cien)	Malaria	Thinking too much
	Malevolent spirits (djok, arop)	Meningitis	Loss of properties and loved ones due to the war
	Violating a taboo
	Being cursed
Wehie Arir	‘Perhaps somebody is behind your misfortune’ (indicating sorcery or witchcraft)		Having lost children or property
Nger yec			Recent loss (of a person or property)
Yei (South Sudan)
Mamali	Being bewitched	Cannabis	Yeyeesi (‘thinking too much’)
	Attack by spirits from water or forest (a’bionga or dulako)	Alcohol	‘Too many problems’
		Brain damage	Family disputes
		Typhoid fever
		Born this way
Ngengere	Being bewitched	Drugs
Ngengere		Alcohol
Yeyeesi			Loss of beloved person
			Loss of property
			State of poverty
			Family disputes
Butembo (DRC)
Erisire	Bad spirits (virumu)	Cerebral malaria	Death of a loved one
	Scorcery ( by a mukumu – traditional healer)	Epilepsy	Being rejected in love
	Bad spell (lirengo)	Drugs
		Alcohol
Alluhire			Worrying about problems
			Poverty
			Family problems
			Death of loved ones
			Rape
Kibuye (Burundi)
Ibisazi	Sorcery	Malaria	Ibonge (see below)
	Angry ancestor spirits	Fall on head in accident	Having lost belongings
	Bad spirits	Change in the blood	Seen too many bad things in the war
		Drugs
		Alcohol
Ibonge			Death of a loved one
			Loss of property
			Loss of livelihood
			Having witnessed atrocities during the war
			Worrying about bad health
Ihahamuka			Having witnessed terrible things in war
			Having been raped
			Car accident

ISSN: 1752-1505