How do African healing traditions address mental distress differently than Western therapy?

This is something I've sat with for a long time. African healing traditions don't separate the mind from the body, spirit, or community the way Western approaches often do. Where talk therapy might focus on individual thought patterns, many African traditions recognize that distress lives in the whole person — and in the relationships around them. Think of it this way: if you're grieving, a Western therapist might help you process that loss individually. An African healer might involve your family, your ancestors, your place in the community. Both are real and valid. The difference is in the lens. African approaches often ask: *What is this distress trying to teach me? What is unbalanced in my connections?* I've learned that these traditions also trust practices — rhythm, ceremony, herbal wisdom, movement — as medicine, not just talk. Your nervous system responds to drumming, to being held by community, to knowing your ancestors are present. That's not mystical thinking. That's recognizing what your body already knows. The invitation here isn't to choose one over the other. It's to understand what you might be missing if you only work with one framework. What part of your healing has been untouched so far?