Sitota’s philosophy of treatment

Two aspects make up Sitota’s psychiatric philosophy. The first is that Ethiopian customs, beliefs, and culture are acknowledged as knowledge-producing sources, and humility is recognized as knowledge’s goal. Examining potential interactions between local customs and global psychiatric epistemologies is the second aspect.

In our therapeutic work, we specifically strive to explore how Ethiopian psychiatric knowledge might connect with western psychiatric knowledge, which provides significant psychiatric lessons and expertise. Sitota urges a deliberate shift away from a focus on Western psychiatric fields of knowledge and towards Ethiopian psychiatric knowledge, from the experiences and narratives of the strong to the demands and potentials of Ethiopian cultures and traditions.

We think the “Tirguaamme” indigenous approach from Ethiopia offers a crucial understanding that deals with the issue of how to gain knowledge from a worldwide psychiatric epistemology. Our psychiatric practices are grounded on the knowledge generated through creative incorporation, which is the skill of interpreting Western sources of knowledge about psychiatry from an Ethiopian viewpoint and the process of gleaning insights from Western sources to enrich, activate, and alter a psychiatric practice.