Cross-culturally, mental illness is known and researched, with an overall curiosity of what effects it. For centuries, various ideas of causation have been speculated upon which, has brought about numerous people willing to pose their philosophies to the psychological and scientific communities. A cross-sectional study titled, Lay Beliefs Regarding Causes of Mental Illness in Nigeria: Pattern and Correlates, was performed with south-western residents of Nigeria, with published results in 2007. The backdrop of this study was to pinpoint a cluster of people who might benefit from more education on mental illness. Furthermore, the hypotheses of this study was to not only investigate if inhabitants of the Yoruba regions held to more pre-scientific
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One notion they proposed was that these views could encourage a negative outlook towards those who suffer from a mental disorder (Adewuya & Makanjuola, 2007). However, per the collected data, the south-Western regions of Nigeria have much belief in the supernatural and traditional healers thus, there is uncertainty if stigmatization would occur. In contrast to parts of Africa, areas in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, the common belief was that people who practiced witchcraft were influenced by evil forces, and the societal view was that of condemnation, so many were put to death. This presented a cultural view of no tolerance for certain spiritual aspects (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014). It is to be recognized that different cultures will reflect varied accepted notions when it comes to mental health concerns, and that people may tend to lean towards their societal …show more content…
This referred to their idea to separate out three causal groups which were biological, psychosocial, and supernatural, to investigate if there was combination of social and demographic relationships between these groups. Ultimately, via this process, the objective of the study was met because it showed that urbanites and higher educated people were more likely to believe in psychosocial and biological causes whereas, rural residents believed more in supernatural causes. Yet, amongst the Nigerian natives as a whole, supernatural influences were never ruled out, in spite of one’s level of education. The researcher’s further hypothesized the possibility that westernized education impacts people’s beliefs about what causes mental illness (Adewuya & Makanjuola,
One notion they proposed was that these views could encourage a negative outlook towards those who suffer from a mental disorder (Adewuya & Makanjuola, 2007). However, per the collected data, the south-Western regions of Nigeria have much belief in the supernatural and traditional healers thus, there is uncertainty if stigmatization would occur. In contrast to parts of Africa, areas in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, the common belief was that people who practiced witchcraft were influenced by evil forces, and the societal view was that of condemnation, so many were put to death. This presented a cultural view of no tolerance for certain spiritual aspects (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014). It is to be recognized that different cultures will reflect varied accepted notions when it comes to mental health concerns, and that people may tend to lean towards their societal …show more content…
This referred to their idea to separate out three causal groups which were biological, psychosocial, and supernatural, to investigate if there was combination of social and demographic relationships between these groups. Ultimately, via this process, the objective of the study was met because it showed that urbanites and higher educated people were more likely to believe in psychosocial and biological causes whereas, rural residents believed more in supernatural causes. Yet, amongst the Nigerian natives as a whole, supernatural influences were never ruled out, in spite of one’s level of education. The researcher’s further hypothesized the possibility that westernized education impacts people’s beliefs about what causes mental illness (Adewuya & Makanjuola,