Illnesses of the Spirit Among the Serer of Senegal

Abstract

This report is part of an extensive survey of the Serer tribe in West Africa; the purpose is to assess clinical characteristics and prevalence of psychiatric disorder. Using key-informant interviewing, the authors identified three "illnesses of the spirit" as corresponding in many ways to Western notions of mental illness. Case material is presented that provides impressionistic evidence of the universality of some mental disorders.