{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T02:35:13Z","timestamp":1771209313301,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":92,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,1]],"date-time":"2013-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1380585600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Transcult Psychiatry"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> This article examines children\u2019s enactment of spirit possession idioms and witchcraft in Africa including the meanings such idioms provide and the local healing resources they mobilize. Idioms of haunting spirits in Northern Uganda and witch-children elsewhere in Africa can be interpreted as manifestations of social crises and mass traumatic stress. On the other hand, such idioms also allow children to articulate, reflect upon, and communicate the complex feelings resulting from their precarious positions within families and communities under duress. With the help of Dow\u2019s transactional model of symbolic healing, this article explores obstacles to the effectivity of the rich variety of symbolic healing available for haunting spirits in Uganda and points to the generational gap between children and their families and communities. Elsewhere, witchcraft idioms may act as a healing resource at the group level, but at the expense of the accused child. The idioms of evil spirits and witchcraft speak of these children\u2019s navigation of the moral universe of their postconflict communities. Given that children\u2019s appraisal of their experiences through these notions may also exacerbate their anxiety, interdisciplinary research examining the microprocesses that lead to children being haunted or accused, including emotional and physiological levels effects, is urgently needed. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461513503880","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,18]],"date-time":"2013-10-18T12:14:03Z","timestamp":1382098443000},"page":"622-643","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["Children enacting idioms of witchcraft and spirit possession as a response to trauma: Therapeutically beneficial, and for whom?"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"50","author":[{"given":"Ria","family":"Reis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Amsterdam and Leiden University Medical Center"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chiabu.2011.05.011"},{"key":"bibr2-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Wartime children\u2019s suffering and quests for therapy in Northern Uganda","volume":"25","author":"Akello G.","year":"2010"},{"issue":"2","key":"bibr3-1363461513503880","first-page":"74","volume":"17","author":"Akello G.","year":"2006","journal-title":"African Health Sciences"},{"key":"bibr4-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2010.03.030"},{"key":"bibr5-1363461513503880","first-page":"188","volume-title":"Memory, narrative, and forgiveness: Perspectives on the unfinished journeys of the past","author":"Akello G.","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr6-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Broken citizenship: Formerly abducted children and their social reintegration in Northern Uganda","author":"Angucia M.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr7-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12142-011-0202-2"},{"key":"bibr8-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ijtj\/ijm007"},{"key":"bibr9-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Berckmoes, L. (2006). Growing up in a refugee camp: Constructions of identity among Burundian youth in Tanzania (Unpublished master\u2019s thesis). Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr10-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9780691213088"},{"key":"bibr11-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470996409.ch21"},{"key":"bibr12-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Witchcraft confessions and accusations","author":"Brain R.","year":"1970"},{"key":"bibr13-1363461513503880","first-page":"413","volume":"3","author":"Cahn N.","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law"},{"key":"bibr14-1363461513503880","first-page":"187","volume-title":"Children and competence: Arenas of action","author":"Christensen P. H.","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr15-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-0-333-98363-8_3"},{"key":"bibr16-1363461513503880","first-page":"188","volume-title":"Makers and breakers: Children and youth in postcolonial Africa","author":"De Boeck F.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr17-1363461513503880","first-page":"263","volume-title":"Mobile Africa: Changing patterns of movement in Africa and beyond-African dynamics 1","author":"De Bruijn M. D.","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr18-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2009.09.044"},{"key":"bibr19-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11013-010-9178-7"},{"key":"bibr20-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De Jong, J. & Reis, R. (2013). Collective trauma processing: Dissociation as a way of processing postwar traumatic stress in Guinea Bissau. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(5), 644-661.","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461513500517"},{"key":"bibr21-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/maq.2002.16.4.415"},{"key":"bibr22-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Natural symbols: Explorations in cosmology","author":"Douglas M.","year":"1973"},{"key":"bibr23-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/aa.1986.88.1.02a00040"},{"key":"bibr24-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/136346159603300202"},{"key":"bibr25-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande","author":"Evans-Pritchard E. E.","year":"1976"},{"key":"bibr26-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3366\/afr.2006.76.2.200"},{"key":"bibr27-1363461513503880","volume-title":"The modernity of witchcraft: Politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa","author":"Geschiere P.","year":"1997"},{"key":"bibr28-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-7660.00100"},{"key":"bibr29-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00020188608707657"},{"key":"bibr30-1363461513503880","first-page":"57","volume-title":"Culture and panic disorder","author":"Hinton D.","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr31-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/136346150103800401"},{"key":"bibr32-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461504041354"},{"key":"bibr33-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Contested terrains and constructed categories","author":"Honwana A.","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr34-1363461513503880","first-page":"31","volume-title":"Makers and breakers: Children and youth in postcolonial Africa","author":"Honwana A.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr35-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Makers and breakers: Children & youth in postcolonial Africa","author":"Honwana A.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr36-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Igreja, V. (2007). The monkey\u2019s sworn oath: Cultures of engagement for reconciliation and healing in the aftermath of the civil war in Mozambique (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Leiden, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr37-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2010.04.024"},{"key":"bibr38-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Theorizing childhood","author":"James A.","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr39-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/california\/9780520072657.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr40-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-3588.2008.00515.x"},{"key":"bibr41-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Transcultural psychiatry","author":"Kiev A.","year":"1972"},{"key":"bibr42-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0277-9536(89)90281-5"},{"key":"bibr43-1363461513503880","first-page":"31","volume-title":"Culture and panic disorder","author":"Kirmayer L. J.","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr44-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00046540"},{"key":"bibr45-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0907568299006004005"},{"key":"bibr46-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Structural anthropology","author":"L\u00e9vi-Strauss C.","year":"1963"},{"key":"bibr47-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Ecstatic religion. A study of shamanism and spirit possession","author":"Lewis I. M.","year":"2003","edition":"3"},{"key":"bibr48-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Liu Institute, Gulu District NGO Forum, & Ker Kwaro Acholi. (2005). Roco Wat I Acoli. Restoring relationships in Acholi land: Traditional approaches to justice and reintegration. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.ligi.ubc.ca\/sites\/liu\/files\/Publications\/JRP\/15Sept2005_Roco_Wat_I_Acoli.pdf."},{"key":"bibr49-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3180568"},{"key":"bibr50-1363461513503880","first-page":"126","volume-title":"Advocating for children: International perspectives on children\u2019s rights","author":"Mayall B.","year":"2000"},{"key":"bibr51-1363461513503880","first-page":"101","volume-title":"Culture, religion and the reintegration of female child soldiers in Northern Uganda","author":"Mpyangu C. M.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr52-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2012.03.028"},{"key":"bibr53-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Body and mind in Zulu medicine: An ethnography of health and disease in Nyuswa-Zulu thought and practice","author":"Ngubane H.","year":"1977"},{"key":"bibr54-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00054782"},{"key":"bibr55-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11013-010-9179-6"},{"key":"bibr56-1363461513503880","volume-title":"The work of culture: Symbolic transformation in psychoanalysis and anthropology","author":"Obeyesekere G.","year":"1990"},{"key":"bibr57-1363461513503880","volume-title":"African indigenous education. As practised by the Acholi of Uganda","author":"Ocitti J. P.","year":"1973"},{"key":"bibr58-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822388456"},{"key":"bibr59-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2010.300070"},{"key":"bibr60-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/chi.710"},{"key":"bibr61-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/aa.2007.109.1.164"},{"key":"bibr62-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3366\/afr.2007.77.2.272"},{"issue":"3","key":"bibr63-1363461513503880","first-page":"S40","volume":"46","author":"Reis R.","year":"1993","journal-title":"Tropical & Geographical Medicine"},{"key":"bibr64-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Sporen van ziekte. Medische pluraliteit en epilepsie in Swaziland [Traces of illness. Medical plurality and epilepsy in Swaziland]","author":"Reis R.","year":"1996"},{"issue":"2","key":"bibr65-1363461513503880","first-page":"362","volume":"9","author":"Reis R.","year":"1997","journal-title":"Medische Antropologie"},{"key":"bibr66-1363461513503880","first-page":"61","volume-title":"The quest for fruition through ngoma: Political aspects of healing in Southern Africa","author":"Reis R.","year":"2000"},{"key":"bibr67-1363461513503880","first-page":"95","volume-title":"Plural medicine, tradition and modernity, 1800\u20132000","author":"Reis R.","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr68-1363461513503880","first-page":"163","volume-title":"Generations in Africa: Connections and conflicts","author":"Reis R.","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr69-1363461513503880","first-page":"176","volume-title":"Roads and boundaries. Travels in search of (re)connection","author":"Reis R.","year":"2011"},{"issue":"1","key":"bibr70-1363461513503880","first-page":"79","volume":"16","author":"Reis R.","year":"2004","journal-title":"Medische Antropologie"},{"key":"bibr71-1363461513503880","first-page":"81","volume-title":"Makers and Breakers. Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa","author":"Reynolds P.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr72-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1752-1505-3-10"},{"key":"bibr73-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/past\/167.1.107"},{"key":"bibr74-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Rosenkrantz-Lindegaard, M. (2009). Coconuts, gangsters and rainbow fighters. How male youngsters navigate situations of violence in Cape Town, South Africa (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr75-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/00141801-49-3-507"},{"key":"bibr76-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/02533950608628717"},{"key":"bibr77-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/e615362007-001"},{"key":"bibr78-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Tize, C. (2011). Navigating a culture of fear. Transgenerational processes and structural violence in Nepal (Unpublished master\u2019s dissertation). University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr79-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Tol, W. A. (2009). Healing in the aftermath of war. Conceptualisation and evaluation of mental health and psychosocial support for populations exposed to political violence in low-income settings (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr80-1363461513503880","first-page":"164","volume-title":"Treating traumatized children: Risk, resilience, and recovery","author":"Tol W. A.","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr81-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461510364573"},{"key":"bibr82-1363461513503880","volume-title":"The drums of affliction: A study of religious processes among the Ndembu of Zambia","author":"Turner V.","year":"1981"},{"key":"bibr83-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Upadhaya, N. (2011). \u201cDistress, a door to happiness?\u201d The meaning and etiology of everyday adolescent distress, in a Nepalese government high school (Unpublished master\u2019s thesis). University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr84-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/afraf\/adh044"},{"key":"bibr85-1363461513503880","volume-title":"The quest for fruition through ngoma: The political aspects of healing in Southern Africa","author":"Van Dijk R.","year":"2000"},{"key":"bibr86-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461505052666"},{"key":"bibr87-1363461513503880","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11013-010-9171-1"},{"key":"bibr88-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Diviners and their ancestor spirits: A study of the izangoma among the Nyuswa in Natal, South Africa","author":"Van Nieuwenhuijsen J. W.","year":"1974"},{"key":"bibr89-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Because of temptations: Children, sex and HIV\/AIDS in Tanzania","author":"Van Reeuwijk M.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr90-1363461513503880","unstructured":"Wasike Mangeni, J. B. (2007). Fever and everyday life in rural Uganda. Understanding children\u2019s perceptions, experiences and health-seeking behaviour within the household (Unpublished master\u2019s thesis). University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands."},{"key":"bibr91-1363461513503880","volume-title":"Some spirits heal, others only dance: A journey into human selfhood in an African village","author":"Willis R.","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr92-1363461513503880","first-page":"9","volume-title":"Research with children: Perspectives and practices","author":"Woodhead M.","year":"2000"}],"container-title":["Transcultural Psychiatry"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1363461513503880","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/1363461513503880","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1363461513503880","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,3]],"date-time":"2025-03-03T15:19:25Z","timestamp":1741015165000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1363461513503880"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2013,10]]},"references-count":92,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,10]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1363461513503880"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1363461513503880","relation":{},"ISSN":["1363-4615","1461-7471"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1363-4615","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7471","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2013,10]]}}}