[The Conversation Africa] Despite global advances in disability rights, stigma towards individuals diagnosed with mental illness is common across the African continent. In Ghana, research has shown that one of the main roots of stigmatisation is the belief that mental illnesses are caused by supernatural forces, including spiritual punishment for parents' misdeeds. As a result, Ghanaians with mental illness are often mistreated (sometimes violently), mocked by family members and even denied access to their children.
