Course of psychotic experiences and disorders among apprentice traditional health practitioners in rural South Africa: 3-year follow-up study.

Background: Culture is inevitably linked with the experience, interpretation and course of what modern biomedicine understands to be psychotic symptoms. However, data on psychoses in low- and middle-income countries are sparse. Our previous study showed that psychotic and mood-related experiences, symptoms and disorders are common among individuals who had received the ancestral calling to become a traditional health practitioner (THP) in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Psychopathology among apprentice traditional health practitioners: A quantitative study from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Sociocultural context seems to influence the epidemiology, phenotype, treatment, and course of psychosis. However, data from low- and middle-income countries is sparse. This research is part of a multidisciplinary and multimethod study on possible mental disturbances, including hallucinations, among (apprentice) traditional health practitioners (THPs) who have experienced the "ancestral calling to become a THP" in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Ancestral calling, traditional health practitioner training and mental illness: An ethnographic study from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

This qualitative ethnographic study complements an epidemiological study on first episode psychosis in Vulindlela, a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It focuses on two themes that emerged from our data: (1) the calling of the ancestors to become a traditional health practitioner and (2) , the training to become a traditional health practitioner. The purpose of this study is to describe the ancestral calling, and to explore whether may help with the management of mental disturbances, including unusual perceptual experiences.

Identification of patients with recent-onset psychosis in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa: a pilot study with traditional health practitioners and diagnostic instruments.

Purpose: There is considerable variation in epidemiology and clinical course of psychotic disorders across social and geographical contexts. To date, very little data are available from low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, most people with psychoses remain undetected and untreated, partly due to lack of formal health care services.