Exploring the High Suicide Rates in Africa: A Multidimensional Approach with Insights from Professor Oluwafemi Esan
The global challenge of suicide, death caused by self-inflicted injury with the intent to die is a critical public health issue. While often discussed through purely psychological or socioeconomic lenses, the “Transpersonal Mental Health Approach” proposed by Professor Oluwafemi Esan offers a profound, holistic perspective that integrates the spiritual and transcendent dimensions of human well-being.
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Applying the analytical framework of AClasses, this analysis explores the pressing reality of suicide in Africa and the global African diaspora, arguing that a multidimensional approach, informed by indigenous African principles and the transpersonal view of purpose, is essential for developing effective, culturally resonant solutions.
This article is based on the incredible value shared by Professor Oluwafemi Esan when he spoke to Obehi Ewanfoh in the Obehi podcast.
The Stark Reality: Suicide Rates in Africa
The data highlights a disproportionate burden of suicide on the African continent.
- Elevated Rates: The suicide rate in Africa is estimated at 11 per 100,000 people, exceeding the global average of nine.
- Male Vulnerability: African men face a particularly high risk, with an estimated 18 suicides per 100,000 compared to the global male average of 12.2.
- National Crisis Points: Some nations confront alarmingly high rates. For instance, Lesotho has reported a rate of 87.5 per 100,000—nearly ten times the global average according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This stark data demands an analysis that moves beyond simple diagnoses of depression or anxiety, delving into the core Political Structures, Economic Realities, and Cultural Expressions that shape mental health in these regions.
Multidimensional Drivers of Mental Health Crises
The root causes of suicidal thoughts, often described as the result of feeling unable to cope with an overwhelming life situation, are deeply intertwined with the continent’s history and contemporary challenges.
Economic Realities and Deprivation
The data from the UK, showing that deprivation increases the odds of taking one’s life by ten times, is mirrored in the African context.
- Resource Distribution and Inequality: Decades of structural adjustment programs, neo-colonial economic policies, and internal governance issues have perpetuated cycles of poverty and unemployment, particularly among young men. This economic strain leads to intense feelings of failure and loss of status, which are significant risk factors.
- The Neoliberal Legacy: The Legacy of colonialism established resource-extractive economies. Today, volatility in global commodity markets directly impacts the livelihoods of millions, leading to the “overwhelming life situations” cited as a primary driver for suicidal ideation.
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Political Structures and Institutional Trust
The lack of effective, accessible, and destigmatized mental health infrastructure exacerbates the crisis.
- Underinvestment: Mental health services are notoriously underfunded across the continent. According to the WHO, the median number of mental health workers per 100,000 people in Africa is significantly lower than in high-income nations.
- Conflict and Displacement: Many communities are grappling with the psychological trauma from conflict, political instability, and forced displacement, creating a pervasive sense of insecurity and hopelessness that increases suicide vulnerability.
Cultural Expressions and Social Norms
Cultural factors often restrict open discussion and support for mental distress. Professor Oluwafemi Esan, a mental health expert himself, is a strong advocate of looking beyond western psychological approach to mental health.
- Stigma and Silence: Traditional norms of masculinity across many African cultures often discourage men from expressing vulnerability, seeking help, or opening up about emotional pain—a phenomenon Samaritans’ research identifies as a critical factor in male suicide.
- Medicalization vs. Spiritualization: While Western approaches often prioritize medicalization, many African communities view mental distress through a Religious/Spiritual Systems lens, sometimes attributing it to external forces like the “spirit of death.” This spiritual framing, while sometimes leading to isolation, also points to the transpersonal approach’s potential utility.
The Transpersonal Approach and African Principles
Professor Esan’s Transpersonal Mental Health Approach—which integrates the spiritual or soul into psychology, focusing on identity, purpose, and spiritual evolution—finds deep resonance within established African ethical frameworks.
Ubuntu and Communal Well-being
The Transpersonal focus on discovering profound connections between oneself, others, and the universe is practically embodied in the core African Principle of Ubuntu (often translated as “I am because we are”).
- Individual Self in Community: Ubuntu views a person’s identity not in isolation but as fundamentally interconnected with their community. The concept of “spiritual purpose” aligns perfectly with this, suggesting that one’s meaning is found in their contribution to the collective, not just individual material achievement.
- Wholeness and Healing: Indigenous healing practices in Africa have historically been holistic, treating the person, their family, and their spiritual context simultaneously. This contrasts with purely Cartesian models that strictly separate mind and body. The transpersonal model, by re-integrating the spirit, echoes this ancestral Heritage.
Vision: The Solution to Suicide
The transpersonal approach offers a direct therapeutic counter-narrative to suicidal despair by focusing on the Five Questions of Life and the imperative of Vision.
| Transpersonal Question | Corresponding African Principle | Impact on Suicide Prevention |
| Who am I? (Identity) | Ubuntu (Interconnected Identity) | Restores self-worth by rooting identity in community and inherent dignity, challenging feelings of isolation. |
| Why am I here on earth? (Personal Purpose) | African Heritage (Ancestral Mandate) | Counteracts existential dread by establishing a value system beyond material goals, fostering hope. |
| Where am I going in life? (Life Vision) | Proverbs 29:18 (“Where there is no vision, the people perish”) | Provides a future-oriented goal, a reason to live, that helps reframe overwhelming present-day challenges as temporary obstacles. |
As the analysis states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” means without a clear goal or purpose, people can languish or fall into decay. In the African context, a lack of vision can be traced to structural barriers (economic, political) that block avenues for self-actualization.
A Transpersonal Vision must be both internal (spiritual meaning) and external (community contribution).
It reframes life not as a set of material achievements, but as a journey guided by enduring values, principles, and beliefs, a framework less susceptible to the devastating impact of job loss or relational breakdown.
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Prescription for an Afro-Centric Solution
The way forward requires a deliberate merging of traditional clinical care with the wisdom embedded in African principles and the transpersonal paradigm.
- Cultural and Spiritual Integration: Mental health programs must move beyond purely Western models to integrate indigenous concepts like Ubuntu. Healing must be framed as a collective and spiritual endeavor, not just an individual, biomedical problem.
- Purpose-Driven Economic Empowerment: Economic empowerment initiatives should not solely focus on material wealth but also on fostering purpose. Programs that connect youth employment with community building, ancestral Heritage preservation, or social justice work will build resilience beyond a person’s income level.
- Destigmatizing Vulnerability: Public health campaigns, leveraging community elders and respected figures, are needed to challenge harmful stereotypes of masculinity that prevent men from seeking help. The focus should shift from “being strong” to “being whole”.
- Policy Alignment: National mental health policies need to explicitly recognize the spiritual and existential drivers of distress, supporting the training of mental health practitioners who can engage with the transpersonal and spiritual needs of their clients, rather than dismissing them.
We conclude that the solution to the tragic problem of suicide, particularly in the most vulnerable segments of the African continent and diaspora, lies in restoring a sense of profound, collective, and spiritual purpose.
The Transpersonal Approach, when viewed through the rich ethical framework of African Principles, provides a comprehensive and culturally resonant roadmap for promoting mental health, restoring hope, and fostering a vision for life.
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