Traditional Healers & Mental Health

Ethnographic study on mental health in traditional health practice

1. Focus Group with indigenous and allopathic mental health practitioners to bridge the two medical knowledge systems.
2. Survey through THPs on prevalence of Mental, Neurological and Substance use disorders (MNS) and their diagnosis, prevention and treatment in under-serviced communities.

Contact: Prof Mavis Mulaudzi, Prof Neissan Besharati

Psychotropic Plant Medicine

• Scoping review of traditional uses & pharmacology of SA indigenous medicinal plants for potential treatment of MNS conditions
• Meta analysis of efficacy of South African sceletium to treat depression and anxiety

Contact: Dr Gary Stafford, Prof Vanessa Steenkamp, Prof. Neissan Besharati

Mycology & Indigenous Mushrooms

• Pharmacology & clinical trials on indigenous psilocybin mushrooms of Southern Africa

1. Macro-dosing for treatment of alcohol addiction and depression
2. Micro-dosing for improved cognitive performance and productivity

• Economics of psilocybin, export potential and market study

Contact: Mr Werner Breedt, Prof Gerard Grobler, Prof Neissan Besharati

Music, Dance & Movement Therapy 

Traditional medicine practices of indigenous peoples have long incorporated music and dance into rituals and ceremonies to:

• Shape and enhance healing journeys into altered states of consciousness
• Provide a non-verbal channel for processing emotions and memories
• Support the construction of cohesion in community

It is for this reason that modalities such as music and dance are taken up in the study of IKS related to psycho-pharma and the multi-modal applications they allow.

Music and art play an integrative role across all SCIPP projects instead of serving as a stand-alone study.

Music and Dance Project Information 

Free Music Resources

Contact: Ms Nethanielle Mattison, Mr Werner Breedt

Entheogens of Africa & the Amazon

Research on DMT, mescaline, ibogaine, and other psychedelics contained in amphibian and plant medicine of Africa and South America.

• Anthropological studies on ethnographic uses by indigenous people of Africa and the Americas of natural medicines for healing and spiritual rituals
• Identification of psychoactive material in the Southern African eco-system, and cultivation of Amazonian psychoactive medicines in re-created local environments
• Extractions, preparations and pharmacology of psychoactives of Africa with comparisons regarding similar psychotropic species of the Americas
• Clinical trials of ancient indigenous entheogens for the potential treatment of current mental health conditions
• International symposium on BRICS countries traditional medicine for mental health treatment.

Contact: Prof Neissan Besharati, Dr. Gary Stafford