Prayer camps and mental illness

By: Helena Selby
Prayer camps in Ghana have been one of the main sources of hope for many Ghanaians who find their relatives in a mental health situation. The belief of the existence of evil spirits who are in to harm people has made many people develop superstitious belief where they blame sicknesses like mental illness on the attack of evil spirit on the individual.

The situation has resulted into many transferring their wards with mental illness from psychiatric hospitals to prayer camps, and some don't even try the psychiatric hospital, but go straight to prayer camps. The alarming nature of the situation can be attributed to the congested nature and bad up-keeping of mental hospitals, like the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

Information available to The Chronicle indicates that the number of prayer camps increase by the day. Ada in the Greater Accra Region is reported to have as many as 70 prayer camps. The number may be an exaggeration but it tells how much people keep their faith in these prayer retreats.

Many people consider mental illness an attack by an evil spirit. It is assumed that the concoctions, incantations of native priests, or the prayers of a man of God for the mentally ill person are the best way to heal them. Many Ghanaians consider mental illness more of a spiritual problem than medical.

Mental health and the government of Ghana
Ghana has a population of 22 million, but invests less than 1% of its health budget on mental illness, and has just four psychiatrists. Out of a total budget of GH¢867.2 million (including the National Health Insurance Fund, NHIF) allocated to the health sector in 2009, only 1.12 percent or GH¢9.7 million was allocated to the mental health sub-sector.

Of the total allocation to the mental health sub-sector, GH¢7 million (72 %) was used for emoluments, and GH¢2,686 (28 %) used for non-wages, such as drugs, medical supplies and other amenities. Nothing was allocated for capital expenditure, that is to say, expenditure on buildings, medical equipment, vehicles, etc.

This revelation raises grave concerns, especially, within the context of statistics by the Ghana Health Service, which suggest that 93% of all suicide cases emanate from mental illness. Suicide itself, as reported in the 717 edition of the Public Agenda of Monday January 18, 2010, is on the ascendancy in Ghana, with 21,500 reported cases for 2009 alone.

Prayer camps and mental illness
On a visit to some prayer camps with the Right for the World Advocacy Organisation (RWAO), upon reaching one prayer camp at Adjei Kojo, near Ashaiman, a woman arrived in a taxi looking distressed, very sad, and almost in tears. In the taxi was her son who looked out of focus, with red eyes and dreadlocks. In tears the woman said to one of the ushers of the camp, 'It seems my child is going crazy,' and suddenly the attention of people around drifted to the scene. The young man, who seemed to be in his mid twenties, was being held very tightly by some men who accompanied her.

According to them, when he is left alone, he acts a bit violent and might even run away. The usher, staring at the woman, simply said, 'But madam, it seems your son has been smoking wee or marijuana,' and the woman replied, 'Yes, he has. I have been advising him to stop, but he didn't listen to me, and now look at the situation,' then the usher said 'Please, don't cry, the Almighty God will heal him in this camp.' The usher then called on other ushers to help the woman bring the young man into the camp.

Georgina Ansah is a 34 year-old trader who lived with her husband and their two children. She got pregnant with their third child, and things seemed to be moving on well with her and the pregnancy medically, till the day of her delivery. After her delivery, she decided to go and visit the washroom, on the way, she slipped and fell, and while on the floor, a heavy object from nowhere hit her head, it was nothing serious initially, as everything went on well with her delivery of a baby boy.

A week after she had left for her home with her husband, the unfortunate happened. According to her husband, he was in the kitchen cooking, when she heard his wife screaming so loudly he suddenly got frightened and rushed to the bedroom where she was. When he got there, his wife was sitting on the floor helpless and paralyzed. She couldn't move any part of her body. She was then taken to the hospital, and the doctor gave the cause of her situation as the object which hit her head.

The doctor suggested surgery on her head, as some part of her brain had been injured as a result of the object that hit her head, however, fortunately or unfortunately, the surgery was not done. The pathetic aspect is that after about five years after this incident, Mrs. Ansah has not been really normal as she used to. She often behaves like a child, and sometimes a bit abnormal. The most pathetic and frustrating aspect is that she always gets convulsions, and the part of her body which is paralyzed keeps on shrinking.

Mrs. Ansah has refused to be taken to the psychiatric hospital, with the notion that she is not a mental patient, and even if she is, she would rather seek the face of God in prayer camps and prayer centers. The only medication she is on now is the one given to her from a previous visit to the hospital she attended, which was not a psychiatric hospital.

Mrs. Ansah on a visit to one of the numerous prayer camps was told by one of the pastors that her situation was caused by a woman who was envious of her, because she had a good marriage. The pastor told her that her friend wanted to kill her, so as to take over her marriage. Since that day, all that Mrs. Ansah has been dreaming of is divine intervention, for God to heal her, forgetting that her change of attitude could be solved by psychiatric treatment.

The above story of the individual even though shows a clear state of mental illness which needed psychiatric attention, but the families of such individuals prefer to take them to prayer camps for help, due to the belief they have in evil spirit attacks.

Some Prayer Camps Visited
The Right for the World Advocacy Organisation as well visited the Agyenkwa Pentecostal prayer camp in Kasoa in the Central Region, where the environment was a bit serene, with many of the people having different problems, including mental health. People with mental health were isolated and chained either to a bench, rock or a metal pole. A young lady was chained to pillar near a school, and was sitting on the green grass with no much attention being paid to her. All she did was stare at people, and kept on moving backwards as the sun approached where she was till finally she entered one of the rooms nearby as her chain was a bit long.

With her was another, who also had mental illness, but they were not seated close to each other. He was a bit clumsy and had gathered a lot of items around him. In a talk with the Prophetess in charge, she said the camp was a famous place where people bring their relations with mental health problems there a lot. She took us around, introducing us to some of the inmates who had been healed of mental health problems, some of who preferred to live in the camp for a while, to be sure of their healing.

According to the Prophetess, people with mental illness brought there are made to undergo fasting and prayers as a process of obtaining their healing.

At the Hebron Prayer Camp, popularly known as mountains at Mamfe in the Eastern Region, it was observed that it had the most concentrated number of mental health patients. The camp has about six rooms for the mentally ill, with two for females, and the rest for males. The least number in a room is about five, while the most is about 15, with the male inmates making the greater number.

Looking at how the rooms had been built, it was noted that the chains used to restrain them were embedded deep in the ground so there would be no need to attach them to a rock or rod, unlike other prayer camps where they had long chains to chain the inmates. The situation was not the same, as the chains in this prayer camp were very short, in the sense that the inmates found it difficult to move even two steps away from their positions.

When some members of the RWAO questioned them on the level of rights abuse, they explained that they were aware and that, since they don't want to seem to be abusing the rights of the inmate, they make relatives sign an agreement of acceptance of chaining. Some pastors around told the organisation that they often pray for them in the mornings, and as well make them fast.

They said fasting was the most efficient way of healing people with mental illness. He stated emphatically that the Hebron Camp was a renowned place of healing, as inmates brought there do not stay for long, but are able to get their healing within three months. He said due to the intensity of the power of God working in the camp, some families in the western countries and in Europe sometimes bring their relatives who are mental patients to be healed there.

The Hebron Prayer Camp had lot of interesting inmates, as one of the rooms was very noisy, which, according to the pastor, contained the violent ones.

In the room was an inmate who just could not stop talking about computer software, he told the organisation that he was a student of the Takoradi High School, and emphatically said he completed with good grades with which he proceeded to IPMC to study computer software. He even gave out his email address so that we could contact him, but he just couldn't stop talking about computer software.

Some of the inmates, especially, the females, felt too shy to look at people's faces, and were unwilling to even say a word. All they would do was to stare at a particular point. On the medical aspects of the inmates, the pastor said that they don't only give them spiritual cure, but once in a while they take some of them to the hospital to check their state of health, or sometimes some medical personnel go to the camp and give them a checkup.

Conclusion
The existence of numerous prayer camps in Ghana and their extreme stressing of their teachings on superstition have resulted in people veering away from the reality of mental illness. People get confused everyday as to what causes mental illness. If that be the case, perhaps public education by the government and stakeholders of mental health can help people have a better knowledge about mental illness.