Encounter with a traditional healer: Western and African therapeutic approaches in dialogue

The paper explores the extent to which cultural aspects contribute to the modalities of human relations and consequently to the qualities of the internal objects and the sense of identity. Therapeutic relationships and techniques, as well as the theories on which they are based, are seen as being equally embedded in their cultural context. An encounter with a traditional African healer offers the author, a western trained European analyst, an opportunity to think about similarities and differences in the therapeutic approach to mental distress, as well as in the training of therapists/healers in the two cultures. Special attention is given to the role of ancestor reverence in African culture. The notion of the ancestors is related to what psychoanalysis describes as internal objects. Cultural differences in the role and importance of verbal language in the therapeutic relationship are described, and the importance and meaning of non-verbal forms of communication are explored.