Zabow Tuviah
Emeritus Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa, email
Int Psychiatry. 2007 Oct 1;4(4):81-83. eCollection 2007 Oct.
Psychiatric patients access both indigenous healers and services rendered by psychiatric facilities in South Africa. The various groups of healers which are available are clearly not all acceptable to the whole population and variable experiences are reported with different categories of healer and the different treatments provided. An increasing collaboration between psychiatric services and indigenous healers is becoming evident, as in other health services. Reports indicate that many African psychiatric patients seek treatment from indigenous healers while attending psychiatric clinics, in both rural and urban regions. This has led to much discussion and differing viewpoints as to the possible benefits and disadvantages of collaboration and simultaneous use of different treatment modalities. Included in this is the question of the medical competence of traditional healers and the possible neglect of serious conditions.
在南非，精神科患者既会寻求本土治疗师的帮助，也会利用精神科机构提供的服务。现有的各类治疗师显然并非被全体民众所接受，不同类型的治疗师以及所提供的不同治疗方法都有不同的体验报告。与其他医疗服务领域一样，精神科服务与本土治疗师之间的合作日益明显。报告显示，许多非洲精神科患者在农村和城市地区的精神科诊所就诊时，也会向本土治疗师寻求治疗。这引发了诸多讨论，对于合作以及同时使用不同治疗方式的利弊也存在不同观点。其中包括传统治疗师的医疗能力问题以及可能对严重病情的忽视。
