Awareness and use of Meseron therapy among clinical psychologists in southern Nigeria

Abstract

Despite strong underlying philosophies and benefits of non western therapies such as Meseron therapy, it is apparent they meet with several challenges which limit their ready adoption and applicability in clinical practice. This paper examined the views of Nigerian clinical psychologists about non-western psychotherapies using Meseron therapy as a case study. A cross-sectional research design was employed for this study between May and June, 2015. The study was conducted in Benin City, Nigeria. Fifty clinical psychologists were randomly drawn from the catalogue of Clinical Psychologists in Nigeria. Participants were reached through telephone calls and only those who consented took part in this study. Sixty two percent of the participants, M=29, F=21 had heard of Meseron therapy. The source of their information ranged from textbooks to workshops and seminars. Expectedly, practicing clinical psychologists were significantly more aware of non western therapies than their counterparts in the academia. The low level of awareness could have far reaching negative effects on the training of future clinical psychologists. Reasons given for not using non-western therapies include preference for western therapies, lack of guidelines for use and lack of opportunity for use. Sensitization of Nigerian clinical psychologists to embrace indigenous psychologies was recommended. Additionally, African research institutions were encouraged to explore the prospects of integrative psychotherapies.

Keywords: Awareness, Non-western psychotherapy, Meseron, Therapy, Clinical Psychology