Traditional Doctors And Psychiatry In The North West Province Of Cameroon

"This book tries to pour some light on traditional medicine as an alternative form of health management as practised in Cameroon (Africa). Use is made of the treatment of some psychiatric cases to point out the pros and contras of traditional medicine. Elaborate references are made to some earlier works on traditional medicine in Africa as a whole and Cameroon in particular. A great section of the book is dedicated to the research work carried out with four renowned traditional doctors. The findings in Bafut and Njinikom show that traditional doctors make a lot of contributions to mental health in their localities."--BOOK JACKET.

Cameroon is a land of much promise, but a land of unfulfilled promises. It has the potential to be an economically developed and democratic society but the struggle to live up to its potential has not gone well. Since independence there have been only two presidents of Cameroon; the current one has been in office since 1982. Endowed with a variety of climates and agricultural environments, numerous minerals and substantial forests, and a dynamic population, this is a country that should be a leader of Africa. Instead, we find a country almost paralyzed by corruption and poor management, a country with a low life expectancy and serious health problems, and a country from which the most talented and highly educated members of the population are emigrating in large numbers. To all of this is recently added a serious terrorism problem, Boko Haram, in the north, a separatist movement in the Anglophone west, refugee influxes in the north and east, and bandits from the Central African Republic attacking eastern villages. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Cameroon.

Theatre use in therapeutic settings is more relevant now in Cameroon than ever. The incessant hike in crises leaves many in difficult mental health conditions that the available modern treatment facilities cannot fully address. Other alternatives can therefore be used to address these and this book looks at those related to theatre. The focus here is on using theatre techniques in therapeutic contexts either directly or indirectly through cross-examination of theatre productions and performative healing rites. Major therapeutic uses of theatre in Cameroon are discussed with a special focus on theatre for development, community theatre, theatre of the oppressed, and traditional healing ritual practices. In all these forms, therapeutic aspects of dramatic art are fore-grounded and developed to their fullest potential. The boundary separating these genres (western and Cameroonian) is narrow compared to their similarities. This examination portrays a Cameroonian model of theatre in health aimed at addressing mental health. As a model, it considers the sociocultural specificities of the participants who combine theatrical elements with health and communication to achieve wellbeing in a collective process. Theatre as a result of this serves as an ideal therapeutic modality wherein individuals and society get rid of their painful memories and thinking, and become involved in a healing process wherein, theatre acts as a powerful catalyst for behavioural change both on individual and community bases.

Routledge International Handbook of Dramatherapy is the first book of its kind to bring together leading professionals and academics from around the world to discuss their practice from a truly international perspective. Dramatherapy has developed as a profession during the latter half of the twentieth century. Now, we are beginning to see its universal reach across the globe in a range of different and diverse approaches. From Australia, to Korea to the Middle East and Africa through Europe and into North & South America dramatherapists are developing a range of working practices using the curative power of drama within a therapeutic context to work with diverse and wide ranging populations. Using traditional texts in the Indian sub-continent, healing performances in the Cameroon, supporting conflict in Israel and Palestine, through traditional Comedic theatre in Italy, to adolescents in schools and adults with mental ill health, this handbook covers a range of topics that shows the breadth, depth and strength of dramatherapy as a developing and maturing profession. It is divided into four main sections that look at the current international: Developments in dramatherapy Theoretical approaches Specific practice New and innovative approaches Offering insights on embodiment, shamanism, anthropology and cognitive approaches coupled with a range of creative, theatrical and therapeutic methods, this ground breaking book is the first congruent analysis of the profession. It will appeal to a wide and diverse international community of educators, academics, practitioners, students, training schools and professionals within the arts, arts education and arts therapies communities. Additionally it will be of benefit to teachers and departments in charge of pastoral and social care within schools and colleges.

In most places on the African continent, multiple health care options exist and patients draw on a therapeutic continuum that ranges from traditional medicine and religious healing to the latest in biomedical technology. The ethnographically based essays in this volume highlight African ways of perceiving sickness, making sense of and treating suffering, and thinking about health care to reveal the range and practice of everyday medicine in Africa through historical, political, and economic contexts.