An integration of African traditional healing rituals with psychological therapeutic practices

Abstract

African traditional healing practices have been used by the majority of South African Black populations for various health reasons, including mental illnesses, which are often understood as punishment or a gift from ancestors and sometimes as witchcraft. However, in South Africa, traditional healing is not readily accepted into the formal healthcare system and biomedical practices are more dominant and even considered safer. The Traditional Health Practitioners Act 22 established the Interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council of South Africa, which sets out regulations to ensure quality, safety, and other matters related to traditional health care services. Despite this, the inclusion of such practices into the formal healthcare system is relatively limited. This becomes an important consideration within the South African healthcare system, given that cultural beliefs direct the understanding and expression of mental illness. This study examined psychologists’ insights into African traditional healing rituals alongside psychological therapeutic practices. Understanding their experiences is important for the discipline, as South African belief systems often extend beyond traditional Western interpretations and understandings of mental illness. The research methodology for the study was qualitative in nature, using purposive sampling and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, and was guided by Decolonisation Theory as its theoretical framework. Four psychologists from the Makana Municipality and Nelson Mandela Bay participated in the study. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, the research reveals integration as a complex engagement with identity, culture, and knowledge systems in post-apartheid South Africa. The research highlights integration as a culturally situated practice and calls for urgent curriculum transformation and structural policies that enable meaningful, non-tokenistic collaboration.