Zimbabwe's Radical Treatment Against Depression

Late one evening, Dickson Cibanda [Dixon Chibanda], a psychiatrist in Harare, Zimbabwe, received a phone call from a doctor in an emergency room. A 26-year-old woman named Erica, whom Cibanda had treated for months tried to commit suicide, translates Periscope.

Erika had her home 100 miles [160 km] from the hospital, and he had told his mother to bring her to the hospital for a treatment plan.

It was a week, and then two more, and not a word from Erica. Finally, Cibanda was summoned by the patient's mother, who told her that her daughter had committed suicide.

He had asked her why they had not come to Harare, while she had responded that they had not had 15 dollars to get there by bus.

Zimbabwe has only 12 psychiatrists and 16 million inhabitants. Many other people would have the same fate. The psychiatrist thought.

Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression and become nearly 1 million suicides.

Nobody knows how many Zimbabwes suffer from Kfungissa [The word for Seana's depression, literally translated “to think too much”]. But Cibanda was sure that the number was too high.

Yet, those who suffer from depression have little access to themselves because of the lack of professionals who offer medical treatment. Chibandas thus came up with an extraordinary idea to deal with this problem - grandmothers. From 2006 onward, Cibanda and his team have treated over 400 mothers for speech therapy, which they offer free of charge in 70 Zimbabwe communities. So far, 30,000 people have been helped. This method has been empirically verified and distributed to other countries, including the United States.

Imagine if we could create a global network of grandmothers in every major world city. ”

Cibande always knew that she wanted to be a doctor, but she was in a dilemma between dermatology and pediatricism. The tragedy had made him choose psychiatry. While in medical school in the Czech Republic, a classmate had committed suicide. He was a very joyous guy. Nobody expected him to hurt himself and end his life,” he said.

In 2005 he had observed a high degree of post-traumatic stress and other mental health problems, Periscope follows

When Erika had killed herself, Cibanda had been the only psychiatrist in the country's hospital. His bosses had told him they had no funds for his project. All nurses were busy in HIV-related issues, and rooms at the local clinic were packed. They could give him 14 grandmothers and offer full access to outer space.

A lot of people think I'm a genius to think of something like this, but it's not true. I just had to work with what I had in my hand. ” ] Cibanda said.

I was very skeptical about the idea. Many people viewed it as a funny idea. Even my colleagues told me that's stupid.

But there was nothing to do. The grandmothers rejected Western terminology and used concepts of culture there with which people were more connected. In other words, they appreciated speaking in the language of their patients.

The treatment itself has roots in evidence based on evidence as it is in the West, but it is also rooted in local concepts. I think that was the reason for great success, because it was managed to do these different parts together, using local knowledge and wisdom. ”

Grandma Chinhoy is among them. I joined this program because I wanted to help people in this community. There were so many depressed people. There was so much and I wanted to reduce their number. She said:

More scientifically proven, the Cibandas had to cooperate with colleagues in Zimbabwe and Great Britain, and the published results were amazing. All depressed people. /Periscope