Before the researchers came along, locals described their suffering using two terms. In Luganda, "yo'kwekyawa" means hating oneself. "Okwekubagiza" means pitying oneself. Nobody had any idea that talking could make one feel good enough to get out of bed.
The researchers had had similar doubts. They ruled out antidepressants because of the cost and a lack of health services. They worried that psychotherapy might not translate well in the local culture.
"So much attention is being paid to AIDS but so little is being done about the mental health aspects of the disease," said Paul Bolton of the Boston University School of Public Health, who led the project while he was at Johns Hopkins. "Depression devastates people's ability to function."
By using local facilitators, the researchers found that talking through one's woes works just as well on a straw mat as on a couch.
| Read the rest of Marc Lacey's New York Times article "Group Therapy Helps Ease Burden of AIDS in Uganda"
posted in articles on January 15, 2004 8:07 AM | t (0)
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