The role of music to the mentally ill persons in Uganda: the case of Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital

Abstract

This study was set out to examine the role of music among the mentally ill persons in Uganda at Butabika Hospital. There is a great number of people with mental illness in Uganda which is caused by the stigma, heartbreaks, misuse of drugs and more. So, this study shows how music helps in the treatment of mentally ill people: the kind of music used, how such music is used as a treatment and how do the mentally ill persons respond to this music therapy. The researcher primarily used interviews, a questionnaire and audio recordings to collect data using a qualitative methodology. Findings indicated that music is greatly used in treating person with mental illness but with a number of challenges.