Obeah-Illness Versus Psychiatric Entities among Jamaican Immigrants: Cultural and Clinical Perspectives for Psychiatric Mental Health Professionals

In order to provide culturally authentic healthcare, psychiatric–mental health nurses and other professionals must familiarize themselves with the culture-specific syndromes, idioms of distress, beliefs and practices that may present among the diverse patient groups with whom they work. Psychiatric conditions relating to the Jamaican belief in “Obeah” are specific, culturally-interpreted phenomena that psychiatric nurses may encounter among Jamaican patients. This paper describes the phenomenon of Obeah and its influences on the worldview of life, health, illness; psychiatric conditions in the form of culture-bound syndromes; and help-seeking behaviors throughout Jamaican cultural communities. Inability to understand the obeah-illness concept from a culturally-interpreted perspective may be constrictive and result in less-than-optimal care. Armed with the knowledge of the concept of Obeah from a core belief perspective, how it influences psychiatric presentations, and embracing its significance to the Jamaican health belief model will assist in building a workable, caring, best-practice framework aimed toward a clinical and practice paradigm for this unique folk-health belief system.