Philosophy of Mind and Mental Health Stigma in Yoruba Communities of Oyo State

This study examines the philosophy of mind and its relevance to understanding and challenging mental health stigma among Yoruba communities in Oyo State, located in Nigeria's South West geopolitical zone. Mental health stigma is a pervasive social problem in Nigeria that prevents many individuals from seeking appropriate care, and its philosophical dimensions, rooted in conceptions of personhood, agency, and the mind-body relationship, have not been adequately explored. Using a descriptive philosophical design, the study engages with the philosophy of mind through the mind-body problem, folk psychological conceptions of mental illness, and Yoruba philosophical anthropology's account of the person as comprising ara (body), emi (spirit), and ori (destiny), supplemented by secondary literature published between 2019 and 2024. Structured interviews with 20 traditional healers, mental health professionals, and philosophy academics in Ibadan and Ogbomosho inform the primary data. Findings reveal that dominant Yoruba folk psychological explanations of mental illness as spiritual attack or moral failure reflect a distinctive but philosophically coherent theory of mind that prioritises the spiritual dimensions of personhood over biological causation. The study argues that philosophy of mind provides tools for bridging the gap between biomedical and traditional explanations of mental illness in ways that can reduce stigma. Keywords: philosophy of mind, mental health stigma, Yoruba philosophy, personhood, Oyo State.