ArticleCommunity mental health journal2021
Reassessing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: What Happens if We Include the Impact of Traditional Healing on Mental Illness?
Article in Community mental health journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of narrative-based interventions on self-efficacy and self-management in chronic disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Pooled it
- Treatment Preferences for Pharmacological versus Psychological Interventions among Primary Care Providers in Nepal: Mixed Methods Analysis of a Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- A Community-Led Social and Emotional Well-being Trial Intervention With First Nations Male Parents in Remote Australian Indigenous Communities.American journal of men's healthTrial
- The role of traditional healers and barriers to collaboration with biomedical providers in mental health service delivery in Wakiso district, Uganda: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Influences on help-seeking for serious mental illness in Dhaka, bangladesh: a mixed-methods study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Exploring the convergence of faith healing practices with biopsychosocial interventions for mental health: A qualitative study among faith healers in Madhya Pradesh, India.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Article
- Non-communicable diseases prevention and control in Pakistan: recommendations from policy and public health experts.BMC proceedings · 2025Article
- "They think we are trying to combine knowledges, whereas we are trying to harmonize them": A visual exploration of what promotes successful collaboration between mental health workers and healers in Indonesia.Transcultural psychiatry · 2025Article
- Treatment of depression by traditional faith healers in Nepal: A qualitative study.SSM. Mental health · 2025Article
- Factors influencing integration of mental health screening and treatment at HIV clinic settings in Cameroon: a qualitative study of health providers' perspectives.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Health professionals' attitudes towards traditional healing for mental illness: A systematic review protocol.PloS one · 2024Article
- Coping Strategies and Symptoms of Mental Health Disorders Among People with HIV Initiating HIV Care in Cameroon.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- An intercultural perspective toward supporting antipsychotic medication adherence in clinical practice.BJPsych bulletin · 2023Review
- COVID-19 mental health impact and responses in low-income and middle-income countries: reimagining global mental health.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2021Review
- Traditional and biomedical care pathways for mental well-being in rural Nepal.International journal of mental health systems · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In this Fresh Focus, we reassess what the mental health treatment gap may mean if we consider the role of traditional healing. Based on systematic reviews, patients can use traditional healers and qualitatively report improvement from general psychological distress and symptom reduction for common mental disorders. Given these clinical implications, some high-income countries have scaled up research into traditional healing practices, while at the same time in low-and middle-income countries, where the use of traditional healers is nearly ubiquitous, considerably less research funding has studied or capitalized on this phenomena. The World Health Organization 2003-2020 Mental Health Action Plan called for government health programs to include traditional and faith healers as treatment resources to combat the low- and middle-income country treatment gap. Reflection on the work which emerged during the course of this Mental Health Action Plan revealed areas for improvement. As we embark on the next Mental Health Action Plan, we offer lessons-learned for exploring potential relationships and collaborations between traditional healing and biomedicine.
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