Treatment Multiplicity in a Nigerian Psychiatric Hospital

In this article, I investigate the multiplicity of mental healthcare practices at Aro Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta, Nigeria, using Annemarie Mol's theory of multiple bodies to explore how biomedical, sociocultural, and spiritual dimensions intersect in treatment. Drawing on nine months of hospital ethnography, I illustrate how care practices integrate global biomedical standards with local cultural beliefs about personhood and recovery. Formal interventions-psychotropic medication and occupational therapy-are complemented by spiritual counseling and moral rehabilitation, reflecting Yoruba ontology. These practices adapt global holistic frameworks to resource-constrained settings. This article advocates for culturally resonant recovery models, contributing to global mental health discourse.