Spiritual attacks on mentally ill people is a myth – Dr. Akwasi Osei

The Head of Ghana Mental Health Authority, Dr Kwasi Osei has debunked speculations that mentally ill people are exposed to spiritual attacks from unscrupulous people to get rich.

According to Dr Osei, mentally disabled people on the streets are exposed to so many risks like rape, and infections of all kinds, even though they have some immunity, but spiritual attacks cannot be counted as one.

“The spiritual attack is a superstition, they cannot be spiritually attacked in any way. They are exposed to several risks. People rape the women among them … the spiritual attack is people’s imaginations and superstitions. They are exposed to infections of all kinds, even though they have got some immunity, they could still get a certain level of infection that their immunity cannot help,” he said in an interview with GhanaWeb earlier today, June 10, 2020.

He also expressed disappointment in the Ghanaian society’s way of handling mentally challenged people, which he describes as ‘neglect’.

“A whole society that leaves its mentally ill patients to be walking about, roaming about in the streets tells us that this society is not doing enough. We might be serious in other areas, but here, we are not serious enough,” he lamented.

He also added that as the country is in the rainy season, the mentally challenged patients are exposed to harsh cold temperatures and even death.

“Now that the rains are falling, they are exposed to even drowning. Even apart from drowning, they are not properly sheltered. The rain, the temperature, the cold will be too much for them,” he concluded.