global mental health INTERVENTIONS COMMENTARY Vodou’s role in Haitian mental health E. Auguste* and A. Rasmussen Fordham University, New York, USA Global Mental Health (2019), 6, e25, page 1 of 6. doi:10.1017/gmh.2019.23 This paper gives an overview of Vodou’s history in Haiti and how Vodou informs Haitian mental health interventions. Received 11 August 2018; Revised 10 June 2019; Accepted 19 September 2019 Key words: Haiti, intervention, mental health, Vodou. Introduction The distinct cultural differences between Haitian Vodou and western understandings came to the fore- The relationship of Vodou to the mental health and front of global consciousness following the 12 identity of Haitian people is a nuanced one. While January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The massive the proportion of Haitians that actually practice humanitarian response drew attention to an insuffi- Vodou is hard to enumerate, most adhere to some cient mental health structure and resulted in several aspects of Vodou (Brodwin, 1996; WHO/PAHO, foreign and Haitian-led mental health initiatives 2010), including a substantial portion of the Haitian (Nicolas et al.y, 2012). One factor that complicated people that identify as Catholic or Protestant (Safran these efforts was the reliance on faith-based healers et al. 2011). Haitian Vodou represents a unique reli- for many problems understood as psychological in gious tradition that is based in African spiritualties North America and Europe. Vodou priests (Hougans) (Nobles, 2015). Even before Haiti’s inception as the and priestesses (Mambos), as well as Catholic and first Black republic in 1804, Vodou has been an extant Protestant priests are responsible for the majority of and powerful force in the identities of the Haitian peo- mental health care in Haiti (Méance, 2014). ple (Martin, 2012; Nobles, 2015). According to Sterlin In order to more fully address the mental health needs (2006) while many western peoples have an anthropo- of the Haitian people, the history of Vodou in psych- centric understanding of self, in which people are in ology and the modern importance of Vodou must be control of their own worlds, Haitian Vodou posits a understood. Ramsey (2011, p. 1) has noted that, ‘…no cosmocentric worldview, in which people understand religion has been subject to more… misrepresentation themselves as nested within and impacted by a larger from outsiders over the past two centuries’. In addition, spiritual and psychosocial context. It should be noted how Vodou might impact mental health services needs that many Haitians hold both Haitian Vodou and to be considered in order to inform more comprehensive western understandings of self, and may experience psychologically based interventions. some distress trying to integrate the two (Blanc & Madhère, 2017). History and understanding of Haitian Vodou * Address for correspondence: E. Auguste, Fordham University, The history of Haiti and a comprehension of Haitian New York, USA. Vodou are important in order to understand the men- (Email: [email protected]) tal health of Haitian people. In 1625, at the height of © The Author(s) 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 29 Sep 2021 at 01:21:45, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2019.23 global mental health European colonialism, Spain officially ceded control of protection. Specifically, every person has a ti bon anj, the western half of Hispaniola to France (Nobles, 2015). or little good angel, that is responsible for conscious- This territory was re-named Saint-Domingue and over ness and emotions. The ti bon anj requires the lwa to the next century France increased the number of keep it bonded to the individual body. The gwo bon enslaved Africans in the colony from 2000 to nearly anj, or big good angel, serves as a spiritual shadow half a million (Ferguson, 1987). African people from for the body and is what travels in our dreams. As diverse regions, including but not limited to, Nigeria, such, according to Dayan (1996), Vodou’s conception Senegal, the Congo, Benin, Ghana, and Cameroon of identity is three-part: a spiritual tether that never were taken and forced to endure the barbarities of leaves the body (ti bon anj), the lwa as a source of pro- chattel slavery (Nobles, 2015). Many of these enslaved tection for that tether, and a spiritual shadow that is peoples came from spiritual traditions in which spirits capable of traveling through dreams (gwo bon anj). It are able to interact with and guide the living (Nobles, is the relationship between the first two aspects of 2015). Vodou, an Ayizo word meaning spirit, emerged identity that enables Vodou practitioners to directly when the distinct ethnicities integrated their belief sys- interact with the lwa through a crise de possession,ora tems. As an example, the enslaved Nago people in spiritual possession. While possession has a negative Haiti believed their spirits knew and respected those connotation in the West, within Vodou possession is of the Kongo people (Nobles, 2015). understood to be a divine experience in which a lwa Vodou features several classes of spiritual beings, is able to ‘mount’ an individual for a brief period of the lowest of which are the lwa,orpeti ange, meaning time. According to Mars (1966), ceremonies to bring little angels, and the highest is Le Bon Dieu, a single cre- about possessions can serve a range of purposes ator god understood to be more removed from the including maintaining positive relationships with the daily lives of his creations (Métraux, 1958; Nobles, lwa, seeking guidance, and providing a treatment for 2015). While Catholic figures, such as the Virgin various maladies. Mary and Jesus Christ, are very present in spiritual As leaders of Vodou practice, Hougans and Mambos life in Haiti, they can often be relegated to the back- are responsible for learning and navigating the spirit- ground, while lwa are often at the forefront (Métraux, ual nations. According to Méance (2014), the main 1958). As such, the lwa are the spirits that people are function of the Hougan and Mambo is to heal. The able to communicate with directly. The lwa are divided training period to become a Vodou healer is estimated into classes based on their origin and their influence. to be 5 years. After this training period is completed, The classes of lwa are referred to as nanchons,or Vodou healers are entrusted to handle various illnesses nations. There are lwa belonging to the Rada, believed reported by Vodou adherents. Hougan or Mambos to represent the old gods of Africa, Petro, believed to will conduct a pasé leson, which serves as a type of represent the malevolent spirits in Africa, Nago, diagnostic interview for help-seekers. During these believed to originate from Nigeria, Kongo, believed interviews, practitioners are asked about their social to originate from the Kongo, and Ghede, believed to relationships, religious piety, as well as their current be the spirits of the living who have passed on and past mistakes (Méance, 2014). Once the interview (Nobles, 2015; Bellegarde-Smith, 2006). is completed, the Hougan or Mambo will form a Lwa serve as a moral framework and represent dis- hypothesis about the origin of the practitioner’s illness. tinct elements for the living. As an example, Lwa Hypotheses can include lwa possession, back luck, or Azaka is understood to represent the family as well as spiritual retaliation. The final step is to treat the illness the connection to the land of Haiti. As such, it is com- with the appropriate subset of rituals for the type of ill- mon for newly immigrated Haitian practitioners in ness (Méance, 2014). Treatment for ‘bad luck’ focuses North America and Europe to pray to him (Brown, on rebuilding a practitioner’s confidence. According 1991). There are lwa reflecting broader elements, such to Charles (1986) rituals for bad luck can include: as the sea and love, to more traditional aspects of daily life, such as rum-making and the marketplace (a) cleansing the person, with ointments, oils, magical (Filan, 2006). It is important to note that Vodou is a potions, bath with plants, wines and perfumes, (b) cleans- ing the client’s environment – typically the house – with constantly evolving and lively religion in which the incense, candles and magical waters, and (c) construction lwa are capable of moving through different nations of an amulet or special necklace that the client will have (Dayan, 1996). So while Vodou remains a structured, to wear for personal protection (p. 188). hierarchical religion it is just as capable of adjusting to present concerns of its practitioners. In a similar vein, treatments surrounding angered The relationship between lwa and Vodou’s lwa or lwa possession center on connecting the practi- practitioners is bidirectional. According to Denis tioner with the angered spirit so that he or she can (1956), individual identity depends on the lwa for atone. These ceremonies can include food or animal Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 29 Sep 2021 at 01:21:45, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2019.23 global mental health sacrifices as offerings to the specific lwa. In order to Participants were asked to identify common mental communicate with the spirit world, the Hougan or health symptoms using local idioms of distress.