Spirit Possession as a Trauma-Related Disorder in Uganda

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a long and brutal campaign to overthrow the government of Uganda. Rape and torture are commonly used tactics. Children are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers — children and youth comprise almost 90% of the LRA, according to the UN. These child soldiers experience incredibly high rates of trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress, and depression.A recent study examined the culturally-specific psychological syndrome of spirit possession in this population (Neuner et al., 2012). Although spirit possession is common in many cultures, the phenomenon investigated here is a local variant called cen, where "the ghost of a deceased person visits the affected and replaces his or her identity." It is particularly prevalent in former child soldiers who have killed others. Although some forms of spirit possession are considered relatively benign in Northern Uganda, cen is seen as harmful.It is important here to consider the complex role of religion and magical belief in motivating and sustaining the LRA (Jackson, 2010), along with socioeconomic and political grievances. The Acholi ethnic group has been depicted as marginalized victims of the Ugandan government by the LRA leader, Joseph Kony. Religion is used as a further means of control (Jackson, 2010):The quasi-religious aspects of Kony’s internal cosmology take this sense of victimhood and expand it, through a magpie-like propensity to adopt elements from other belief systems into whic...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs