Abstract
Suicidal behavior is condemned by religions and tradition, and suicide attempts are criminalized by law in several African countries, including Ghana and Uganda. Suicide and suicide attempts may have severe consequences for both the entire family and the community. Religion is known to act as a protective coping force that helps people to make meaning and find comfort when dealing with stressful life events or situations like suicide. In this article, we focus on the cultural interpretations of the dominating religion in Ghana and Uganda, Christianity, and whether these affect attitudes toward suicidal behavior, meaning making, and coping possibilities for people who have attempted suicide or are bereaved by suicide. This article is based on data material from previous studies on the mentioned topics by the authors.
Highlights
Suicide has been part of African cultures, and we find examples of traditional suicides in many ethnic groups over the continent (The Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive, 2015)
Attention is given to apparently rising suicide rates by both media and mental health professionals (Ovuga and Boardman, 2009; Quarshie et al, 2015), and Vaughan asks whether this is a symptom of moral panic or social crisis: “...in many of these reports on Africa suicide is represented as a symptom of a wider social and moral crisis, as a challenge to ‘traditional’ values, a sign of the ‘anomie’ consequent on modernization” (Vaughan, 2013, p. 233–234)
We focus on the findings from our previous studies on attitudes toward suicide and suicidal behavior among different groups, as well as interviews with people who have attempted suicide or are bereaved by suicide in Ghana and Uganda, and try to understand them from an emic point of view in light of Park’s meaning-making model (Park, 2005, 2010)
Summary
Suicide has been part of African cultures, and we find examples of traditional suicides in many ethnic groups over the continent (The Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive, 2015). We focus on the findings from our previous studies on attitudes toward suicide and suicidal behavior among different groups (students, health professionals, lay people, police officers among others), as well as interviews with people who have attempted suicide or are bereaved by suicide in Ghana and Uganda, and try to understand them from an emic point of view in light of Park’s meaning-making model (Park, 2005, 2010) The reason for this focus is that it provides the most comprehensive qualitative material on this topic from the African continent. As religion is a communal meaning system, and suicidal behavior conflicts with this, suicidal individuals or those affected by suicide must reconsider their own situation and position toward God and society
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