Uni reopens historic research project

A decades-old research project on the instance of schizophrenia in a Malaysian jungle tribe has been resurrected by the University of Adelaide.

First-hand accounts collected from the Iban people in jungle farms over the course of 20 years point to distinct schizophrenia symptoms shaped by beliefs and cultural traditions, visiting University of Adelaide researcher and Iban-speaking Professor Cecilia Essau says.

"There is no word for schizophrenia among the Iban people. They also live in the jungle surrounded by animals," she said.

"I believe it is these surroundings that lead many of those suffering from schizophrenia to have powerful hallucinations involving animals."

Prof Essau is picking up on data collected by late University of Adelaide Professor Robert Barrett, who lived with the Iban people in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, on-and-off between 1986 and 2006.