Una visión antropológica del problema de salud mental: el caso mapuche

Abstract

The focus and central axis of the healing process in the medical-system of the Mapuche I ndians, is the consolidation of the identity and the integration of the individual to his social group: family and community. This is the reason why the healind strategy of the Machi (medicine-woman) emphasizes the socialization process of the disease. The patient can not be isolated from his social context. Family-both nuclear and extensive- plays an active role in the phase of diagnosis and treatment. The whole process is based on the formulationsand verification of hypothesis that explain the context and the causes of the disease. During all the later moments that characterize the development of the pathology, the Machi with follow its evolution and she will, at the proper lime, tell what must be done and she will also explain each phase that the patient is going through. This is essential because of the dramatic nature of the disease as it is sign of a cultural break within the relationships that determine the identity of the individuals. The previous results have led us to state the need of an approach in which the Mapuche Indian culture own concepts are taken and used by the doctor in charge, within the Primarity Health Care (APS) or the specialized Mental Health Care at the hans of Psychiatrists and Phychologits. We are aware of the fact that if the previous is true, the doctor-patient relationship will go through a significant change, with a subsequent overcoming of the difficulties that obstruct this relationship and the sucess od the treatments.