Cultural knowledge and perceptions of students towards mental illness in South Africa

Abstract

This study explored perceptions of mental illness and the mentally ill in a South African setting. Informants were a purposive sample of 16 undergraduate students (female = 10, male = 6; age range = 18 to 25 years). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews on their existing understandings of mental illness. Thematic analysis yielded five major themes of mental illness as: (i) strange behaviours; (ii) imbalances in life orientations; (iii) unpredictability and undependability; (iv) biopsychosocial phenomenon; and (v) treatable, not curable. Participants regarded laughing, shouting, or swearing in socially unacceptable contexts as indicating mental unwellness and a danger to self or others. Participants perceived that mental illness is caused by various biopsychosocial systems including damage to the foetus in the mother’s womb, injuries, or accidents causing brain damage. Further participants noted that familial wrongdoing resulting in a curse from the ancestors may also result in mental illness. These beliefs may influence the students’ engagement with the mentally ill in community settings in ways important for recovery intervention design and implementation.