Culture and mental health in Jamaica

This chapter provides a brief overview of the mental health challenges and services of people of African descent living within the Caribbean island of Jamaica. The effects of centuries of intentionally enforced atrocities, discrimination and dehumanizing conditions on enslaved Africans in Jamaica resulted in historical trauma being manifested in every generation to the present age. An historical trajectory acknowledging the impact of slavery on the psyche of this population as well as its cultural creolization gives a framework to facilitate understanding and treatment. The Jamaican mental health system is presented highlighting the British post-slavery practice of incarceration as the then standard treatment for the mentally ill to the current notable success of decentralized community-based mental health care. Although evolved into a modern state, Jamaica has not jettisoned its spiritual understanding of human nature. Consequently, alongside formal mental health services are options for choosing a spiritual healer (obeah) for the treatment of mental illnesses and to self-medicate with alcohol as well as cannabis (ganja).