Connecting with soul works wonders!

Saba Khan

Informal health sector, which includes community social workers, traditional healers, saints etc. have played a very important part in providing healthcare to the society since time immemorial, especially in low and middle income countries. The reason that people consult the informal health practitioners are that they are easy to reach, are comparatively inexpensive and deal with the patients according to their local language and cultural beliefs. This is keeping in view with the biopsychosocial model of disease and its determinants (Moldavsky, 2004).

An example of providing mental health care in the informal sector is a project called ‘Dava (Medicine) & Dua (Prayer)’, formally running in Ahmed Abad, India since 2008 (Dawa & Dua, 2018).  It is based on the concept that as traditional birth attendants were trained by the government for safe deliveries, similarly the custodians of a shrine where people visit to seek help for mental ailments according to their own beliefs, can be trained in mental health and counseling of people to get help from a trained mental health professional (Dawa & Dua, 2018).

The concept of ‘Dawa & Dua’ started when in Tamil Nadu, a state in India, 25 people suffering from mental illness were burned to death in a fire, as they could not escape, being tied down with chains (Dawa & Dua, 2018). The supreme court of India took serious notice of that incident and ordered the states to make sure that the rights of people with mental disability should be taken care of (Dawa & Dua, 2018).

India is a country with religious and cultural diversity. The shrine of Hazrat Sayed Ali Mira Datar, a Muslim saint, situated 100kms from Ahmed Abad, has attracted people with mental problems for the last 500 years and 50% of the visitors belong to the Hindu faith (Shastri, 2016). This is an example of social psychiatry in which faith and science go hand in hand as traditional faith healers, work with psychiatrists and psychologists to treat people with mental ailments (Shastri, 2016). According to Dr. Ajay Chauhan, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital of Mental Health, Ahmedabad, that project is also being replicated in other shrines in the states of Tamil Nadu and Telangana, and has attracted the attention of World Health Organisation and the National Human Rights Commission (Shastri, 2016).

Integrating traditional faith healers in this project for mental health was not an easy task, as the custodians of the shrine were initially not willing to cooperate, back in 2001 (Shastri, 2016). But with the efforts of the government and the health professionals the healers were motivated to participate in the project for the greater benefit of the society (Shastri, 2016). This project has reached 38,500 people with mental health issues like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, who would not have gone to a doctor for treatment, due to the associated stigma (Shastri, 2016). One week to three months are spent by the patients in the shrine, under professional care, free of cost, and this combination of faith and science has worked wonders (Shastri, 2016).

According to Transcultural Psychiatry, this project has filled the treatment gap in mental health in India, keeping in view the local culture and has reached out to people via building trust and following a shared goal by combining the benefits of science and the soul (Shastri, 2016).

Image courtesy 'Pixaby'

References

Dava & Dua program (2018). Altruist.Accessed on: http://thealtruist.org/dava-dua-program/ Accessed on [20/05/2018]

Moldavsky D (2004). ‘Transcultural Pscychiatry for Clinical Practice’. Psychiatric Times. Vol. 07, Issue: 7. Available online at:http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/schizophrenia/transcultural-psychiatry-clinical-practice Accessed on [20/05/2018]

Shastri P (2016). ‘Science of the soul: Dava and Dua Project creates wonders to mental illnesses and how!’ The Times of India. Available online at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Science-of-the-soul-Dava-and-Dua-Project-creates-wonders-to-mental-illnesses-and-how/articleshow/53255284.cms Accessed on [20/05/2018]