Psychotherapy: Unity in Diversity

ABSTRACTThe emotional problems associated with African specific problems and those related to westernisation and underdevelopment, pose a great challenge to psychotherapists working in modern Africa. Many of the psychotherapists are cut in-between the western forms of psychotherapy, which in many cases do not properly address and appeal to the needs of African clients, and African traditional forms of Psychotherapy, which apparently belong to the exclusive domain of African traditional and religious faith healers. In this paper, the author presents a way forward in this dilemma. He draws from literature and from his knowledge on the psychotherapeutic activities of African traditional and religious faith healers pre and post colonial days in Africa, the present western oriented psychotherapy practices in Africa and the in-Africa-based psychotherapeutic practices, to arrive at conclusions. He suggests a way forward - a culture-centred psychotherapy form, where the western, the traditional African, and the Christian religious forms of psychotherapy blend, respect, and constantly enrich each other, for the benefit of modern African clients. This is Unity in Diversity in Psychotherapy.Key Words: Culture-Centred Psychotherapy, Unity in Diversity, Modern Africa.Introduction:In the modern Africa, the challenges posed by poverty and underdevelopment, child abuse and neglect, trauma resulting from different forms of crime and abuse of human dignity, increasing stress-provoking lifestyles, tribal and international wars and conflicts, westernization and globalisation, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and insecurity problems, are enormous. The emotional aspects of those problems need to be addressed using appropriate psychotherapeutic methods that would appeal to the African clients. Surely, we have the likes of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers in Africa, but often we run short of African-originated and integrated forms of psychotherapy to be used to address our emotional problems. It is a challenge for us to know exactly how to adapt the different western forms of psychotherapy to our African situations. African traditional healers and religious faith healers have been managing many of the physical as well as emotional problems of our people. In spite of that, how we (the western-oriented African psychotherapists) should relate to them professionally, is still a matter of debate (Madu, BagumaP there is a way forward in our quest for appropriate psychotherapy method for modern Africa. My presentation will, however, be limited to the black African population group. This leads us to a reflection on psychotherapy in Africa in the past, present and future. While doing the reflection, some of the following questions may run across our minds: Did our African parents and forefathers suffer from any form of emotional problems? If yes, how were they treated? Are there some cases of emotional problems to be found in Africa among Africans today? If yes, how are they being treated? Are those treatment methods satisfactory to both the clients and the therapists? What efforts are being made today to improve on the treatment modalities? What are our dreams and wishes for psychotherapy in Africa in the future? What direction should psychotherapy in Africa take to minimise problems of the past and as much as possible prevent problems of the future? These and many other questions surely run across the minds of many of us. The answers to the above questions will help us in ciystallising a Culture-Centred Psychotherapy which showcases Unity in Diversity, and which I suggest is a way forward for psychotherapy in Africa.What is meant by "Psychotherapy"?There are many definitions of psychotherapy. …