[Better understanding and treatment of paranoid and somatization clinical pictures in Nigerians].

This work identified an important attitude of Nigerians namely that behaviour is controlled from outside including deviant behaviour. Furthermore, there is always some external situation which has some relationship, no matter how remote to mental illness. On the other hand very often psychic distress is often communicated through the body. There is an unconscious link between somatic complaint and the underlying psychological and social problem. Most types of mental illness in Nigeria are expressed through the body and are felt to be caused from outside. A psychological model is described which makes conscious the link between the bodily discomfort and the underlying social or psychological problem. The model also tries to find the outside situation which is attributable to present mental illness. Through social work the problem can be resolved or through psychotherapy accepted as unchangeable and real.