Psychoactive Plants and Cultural Perspectives on Mental Disorders

Mental ailments and disorders are prevalent in Africa and ethnomedicine was used since the olden days to manage and treat this type of diseases. Several plants species are being used by the traditional healers and local communities in rural areas of Africa in cross-cultural settings and global context that collectively reflect the diverse perspectives, approaches, and debates towards understanding the etiology of mental disorders. Mental disorders are characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others such as schizophrenia, depression, mental retardation, and disorders due to drug abuse, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Most of the mental disorders affect the most basic human processes of perception, emotion, and judgment. Traditional healers’ diagnosis depends on the patients’ self-reported symptoms and the traditional healers’ personal interpretation of the condition. A total of 37 plant species belonging to 24 families were reported to be used traditionally in Kavango regions in Namibia to treat the five different categories of mental disorders. The most reported species are Albizia tanganyicensis , Bobgunnia madagascariensis , Dialium englerianum , Diospyros virgata , Elaeodendron transvaalense , Guibourtia coleosperma and Vangueria fulgida. This paper highlights the transdisciplinary psychiatric research between medical anthropology and other natural sciences in the two Kavango regions in Namibia on ethnomedicinal knowledge of traditional healers concerning mental disorders.