DISEASE IS NOT NECESSARILY MAGIC POWERS AT WORK, IT IS SIMPLY DISEASE

I have been meaning to write this for a while now. First, I need to say I am a believer in the supernatural, as I am a Christian. I also want to say that I am a believer in science because I am a doctor and I have seen it at work. I believe science helps me explain religion and spirituality better in the same way it helps me make sense of science. This makes me better at comprehending and objectively understanding where the two intersect.

In Africa, there is a strong belief that bad things happen only because dark powers are at work. Sometimes it seems almost impossible that a child can have an itchy rash without as much as someone looking at them with a “bad eye” or one can ail from malaria without someone being behind this ill state that has befallen the loved one. Worse still, if someone dies, we must always identify a reason connected to witchcraft as to why the person died. While it may seem that finding something to hang the blame on eases our ability to traverse the initial Kubler-Ross stages of grief, it only lets us remain stuck at the third stage of bargaining, slowing the moving-on process.

But what if I told you some of the things you attribute dark powers could be medically explained? Have you ever heard a case of someone who has seemingly been very normal suddenly waking up in the night and wandering far away? They say they hear voices speaking to them and sometimes see visions guiding them on where they go. Sometimes these voices can tell them to remain quiet while others may try to threaten them or persecute them in one way or another. When you hear this I’m sure you are probably thinking this must be wizardly and witchcraft. Can you believe me when I say this is a medical condition? It is known as schizophrenia. Yeah, there is nothing spiritual about this and no dark powers are at work. It is simply a disease that has genetic associations and tends to occur where factors, such as highly stressful environments and exposure to alcohol and substance use intersect. The voices and visions they see are hallucinations. So, there you have it!

There are many diseases that we may try to explain our way by blaming them on dark powers when they may not necessarily have such associations. We need to have more trust in our healthcare systems and consult our clinicians. Often when we mislabel the etiology of the disease, we also ignore the right treatment of the disease. The result is disastrous. Our loved ones' health deteriorates. And for what? To feed our belief system.

Figure 1: Many diseases can be explained medically

I always believe as a doctor, my role is to treat and God heals. But how can the Lord heal you when you have not given me, one of his handymen, the chance to treat you first?

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