Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for FREE ACCESS to this landmark database

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Transcultural Psychiatry
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aina, O.F.
Right arrow Articles by Famuyiwa, O.O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Aina, O.F.
Right arrow Articles by Famuyiwa, O.O.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Ogun Oru

A Traditional Explanation for Nocturnal Neuropsychiatric Disturbances among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria

O.F. Aina

College of Medicine of the University of Lagos,ainafran{at}yahoo.com

O.O. Famuyiwa

College of Medicine of the University of Lagos,

This article describes three cases of `ogun oru' (nocturnal warefare), a condition reported in southwest Nigeria involving an acute night-time disturbance that is culturally attributed to demonic infiltration of the body and psyche during dreaming. Ogun oru is characterized by its occurrence, a female preponderance, the perception of an underlying feud between the sufferer's earthly spouse and a `spiritual' spouse, and the event of bewitchment through eating while dreaming. The condition is believed to be treatable through Christian prayers or elaborate traditional rituals designed to exorcise the imbibed demonic elements. Ogun oru may be a label applied to medical problems. The differential diagnosis includes mainly parasomnias, for example, sleep terror, sleepwalking and sleep paralysis and, to a lesser extent, nocturnal or sleep epilepsy.

Key Words: culture-related syndromes • epilepsy • illness explanatory models • Nigeria • nocturnal neuropsychiatric disorders • parasominas • spirit attack • traditional healing

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 44, No. 1, 44-54 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1363461507074968
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?