Traditional Healer

A traditional healer is a practitioner of indigenous healing, such as a herbalist, dibia, babalawo or boka, consulted for physical and mental complaints. In much of Nigeria a healer is the first stop when someone becomes unwell, well before any clinic. Healers can offer comfort and meaning. The risks are delay, unknown herbs and, in some centres, chaining.

Also called: herbalist; native doctor; dibia, babalawo, boka and other local titles.

What healers do

Practices vary: herbal preparations, divination and ritual, and many healers take people in to stay. A review of 32 studies found healers can ease distress and support people with milder anxiety or low mood. There’s little evidence that healing changes the course of psychosis or bipolar disorder.

In Nigeria

Families go to a healer first for reasons that make sense: the healer is nearby, available at night, and speaks the family’s language of cause (a spiritual attack, a curse, a punishment). Nigeria has very few psychiatrists for its population, so this is also arithmetic.

In studies at Nigerian psychiatric hospitals, between three and eight in ten people had seen a traditional or religious healer before reaching psychiatric care. At the Yaba psychiatric hospital, seven in ten people with schizophrenia had seen a healer first, most blaming a spiritual cause. Across the population, though, most people with a mental health condition get no care at all.

Risks

Delay. In the Yaba study, healer-first people passed through almost six carers, on average, before a psychiatrist, and went longer with untreated psychosis.
Herbs with psychiatric medicine. A healer’s mixture has no ingredient list and no dose. Some herbs interact with prescribed medicines, and some carry their own liver and kidney risks.
Stopping medicine. Some families stop prescribed medicine at a healer’s, or are told to. In a Maiduguri study, people also seeing healers were far more likely to miss doses.
Chaining and abuse. In 2018 and 2019, Human Rights Watch found people chained in 27 of the 28 facilities it visited, including traditional healing centres, churches, Islamic centres and some government-run ones, alongside beatings and forced fasting. It also noted that many healers seemed to genuinely care. Chaining is abuse, not treatment, and most practitioners don’t do it.

Herbal remedies

Herbal remedies are roots, barks and leaves, prepared by a healer or sold in bottles. Tests of herbal products sold in Nigeria have found heavy metals, bacteria and fungal toxins in some samples. A NAFDAC listing means a product passed safety checks, not that its claims were proven, and its label must say so. There’s little evidence that any herbal remedy treats psychosis or bipolar disorder.

Tell the doctor about every herb, and the healer about every medicine. A good clinician asks without judgement. Don’t stop prescribed medicine without the prescriber.

What the law says

Nigeria’s National Mental Health Act bans anyone, including traditional healing centres and faith-based institutions, from using chains, shackles, handcuffs or ropes on a person with a mental health condition. The penalty can include up to five years in prison. Healing centres count as facilities under the Act, and anyone who witnesses abuse must report it to the police. Human Rights Watch reported in 2026 that chaining continues despite the ban.

Healers and doctors working together

In a trial in Ibadan and Kumasi, Ghana, health workers visited healers’ centres weekly and gave medicine for psychosis alongside the healers’ care. After six months, people had fewer symptoms and less disability than with usual care. Shackling and long fasts also fell sharply in both groups once all the healers were trained. WHO calls for this kind of collaboration.

Traditional healer vs faith healer

A traditional healer uses herbs, divination and ritual; a faith healer uses prayer, fasting and deliverance. Both answer “what caused this?”, often with a spiritual attack. A clinician answers “what is happening?”, and most families hold both answers at once.

When to get help

If someone is in immediate danger, chained, beaten or starved, or has thoughts of ending their life, call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list is on our helplines page. Report abuse to the police, or to the National Human Rights Commission on 6472 (toll-free, weekdays). If it’s a child, call Cece Yara Foundation’s free 24-hour child helpline on 0800 800 8001.

Get medical care alongside the healer if someone hears or sees things others don’t, can’t eat or sleep, or isn’t making sense. Having seen a healer is worth mentioning in therapy, not hiding: it tells the therapist how you understand what’s happening and what you’ve already taken. You can book a licensed therapist on Mytherapist.ng for faith-based counselling.