Universal and cultural features in the delusions of a black urban group

Conflicting views as to the form and content of delusions among African psychotics, notably the influence of cultural factors in the preliterate, led us to devote special attention to this area in a recent study of Bantu psychiatric patients. Our sample was drawn chiefly from Baragwanath Hospital serving the South Western Townships of Johannesburg, and smaller samples were drawn from mental hospitals, mental health society clinics, an old age home, and a middle class township in the Witwatersrand area. The degree of systematization and fixity of delusions in the sample as a whole, and in schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis in particular, were assessed. On the side of delusion content, cultural features such as witchcraft, animals as instruments of witchcraft, familiars, and ancestor worship are described. In conclusion, the relationship of cultural content of delusion to class, education and income are evaluated, with special attention to the influence of an early tribal background in our urban professional group, as illuminating the general issue reflected in our title.