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Curanderos, malestar y "daños": una interpretación social.

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Title: Curanderos, malestar y "daños": una interpretación social.
Authors: Rodríguez, Araceli Lámbarri1 aralambarri@hotmail.com, Palacios, Fátima Flores1, Gorn, Shoshana Berenzon2
Source: Salud Mental. mar/abr2012, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p123-128. 6p.
Subjects: TRADITIONAL medicine, HEALERS, PSYCHOLOGICAL well-being, COLLECTIVE representation, SHAMANS, WITCHCRAFT, PSYCHOLOGY
Geographic Terms: MEXICO
Abstract (English): From within the framework of social representations theory, this research sought to explore magical-religious thoughts on sickness among users of traditional medicine. Introduction Ever since the dawn of time, magic and religion have been human resources for facing issues of health and sickness. In traditional Meso-America, sickness was believed to have four different causes: the breaking of natural laws, the will of the gods, the dates on the calendar, and the actions of human beings. These traditional beliefs blended in with Spanish Christian heritage and with the magical-religious beliefs of the slaves, giving place to the traditional medicine practiced currently in Mexico. Representations of health and sickness determine the choices people make between different healing options, thence our interest in understanding the social representations of these categories among users of traditional medicine and folk healing, Method Ten traditional medicine users from the State of Mexico were interviewed in death regarding five thought categories: health/sickness, traditional medicine and folk healers, detection and treatment, reasons for choosing traditional medicine, and contrast between traditional and modern medicine. The interviews were analyzed qualitatively using Ethnograph 4.0, Results According to these ten informants, health and sickness have to do with intra and interpersonal wellbeing and discomfort. The magical-religious thoughts of the interviewees are witnessed by the classification they make of ailments, which can be physical, psychological or due to curses and witchcraft - this latter undetectable by doctors. Other beliefs are that many people can cause their own ailments, that folk healers can practice white magic (for doing good) or black magic (for doing evil), and that they have a "gift" for healing and prediction, through dreams or otherwise. Discussion The ways of understanding health and disease are not universal, they depend on social representation or the meaning that patients attribute to them. Traditional medicine is based on magical-religious thinking that explains the disease and contrasts with the official medicine interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Abstract (Spanish): La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo conocer, desde la teoría de las Representaciones Sociales, el pensamiento mágico-religioso que tiene sobre el malestar un grupo de usuarios de la medicina tradicional. Introducción La magia y la religión han sido herramientas que el hombre ha utilizado para enfrentar los problemas de salud-enfermedad que se le han presentado a Io largo de su existencia. La cosmovisión mesoamericana también estaba sustentada en un pensamiento mágico-religioso que daba sentido al malestar. La conquista produjo un mestizaje cultural en el que este tipo de pensamiento siguió vigente y que en la actualidad se manifiesta en la práctica de la medicina tradicional; de ahí la inquietud de indagar cómo se representan socialmente el malestar los sujetos que hacen uso de esta opción. Método Estudio cualitativo de tipo exploratorio-descriptivo. Se utilizó la entrevista a profundidad para explorar cinco categorías: salud-enfermedad, medicina tradicional y curanderos, detección y tratamiento, argumentos para la elección de la medicina tradicional, contraste entre medicina tradicional y oficial. Materiales e instrumentos: Audiograbadora, diario de campo. Población: Diez usuarios de la medicina tradicional del Estado de México. Análisis de datos: análisis de contenido mediante Ethno-graph 0.4. Consideraciones éticas: Participación voluntaria, confidencialidad y anonimato de los participantes. Resultados De acuerdo con los informantes, la salud-enfermedad tiene que ver con un sentimiento de bienestar-malestar intrapersonal e interpersonal. El pensamiento mágico-religioso se evidencia en la clasificación que hacen de las enfermedades, las cuales pueden ser físicas, psicológicas o de otro tipo: daños o brujerías que no pueden ser detectadas ni curadas por los médicos. Muchas veces una persona es la causante del problema. Los curanderos pueden dedicarse a la magia blanca (hacer el bien) o a la negra (perjudicar); poseen un "don" para curar, pueden ver en sus sueños y adivinar. Discusión Las formas de entender la salud-enfermedad conllevan la elección de aquellas opciones más compatibles con el tipo de pensamiento, ya sea empírico o mágico-religioso, que subyace a la interpretación del malestar, en concordancia con el grupo social al que el sujeto pertenece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: MedicLatina
Description
Abstract:From within the framework of social representations theory, this research sought to explore magical-religious thoughts on sickness among users of traditional medicine. Introduction Ever since the dawn of time, magic and religion have been human resources for facing issues of health and sickness. In traditional Meso-America, sickness was believed to have four different causes: the breaking of natural laws, the will of the gods, the dates on the calendar, and the actions of human beings. These traditional beliefs blended in with Spanish Christian heritage and with the magical-religious beliefs of the slaves, giving place to the traditional medicine practiced currently in Mexico. Representations of health and sickness determine the choices people make between different healing options, thence our interest in understanding the social representations of these categories among users of traditional medicine and folk healing, Method Ten traditional medicine users from the State of Mexico were interviewed in death regarding five thought categories: health/sickness, traditional medicine and folk healers, detection and treatment, reasons for choosing traditional medicine, and contrast between traditional and modern medicine. The interviews were analyzed qualitatively using Ethnograph 4.0, Results According to these ten informants, health and sickness have to do with intra and interpersonal wellbeing and discomfort. The magical-religious thoughts of the interviewees are witnessed by the classification they make of ailments, which can be physical, psychological or due to curses and witchcraft - this latter undetectable by doctors. Other beliefs are that many people can cause their own ailments, that folk healers can practice white magic (for doing good) or black magic (for doing evil), and that they have a "gift" for healing and prediction, through dreams or otherwise. Discussion The ways of understanding health and disease are not universal, they depend on social representation or the meaning that patients attribute to them. Traditional medicine is based on magical-religious thinking that explains the disease and contrasts with the official medicine interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:01853325