Sacred Plants and Mental Health in Latin America
OpenAlex – May 22, 2019
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Mexico holds the greatest diversity of sacred plants across the Americas, reflecting a rich Latin American heritage where indigenous cultures integrate these plants into ritual and traditional medicine. This ethnobotanical wealth underscores their bond with the sacred. Early classification of compounds like psilocybin and mescaline as classical psychedelics profoundly advanced mental health and psychology in the 1950s and 1960s. Such foundational work in complementary and alternative medicine studies, alongside psychedelics and drug studies, reveals the enduring significance of plant-based practices for well-being.
Abstract
Abstract Sacred plants have a number of phenomena that revolve around their ritual and medicinal use, as well as being seen as carrying a bond with the sphere of the sacred. México is the country that has the greatest diversity of sacred plants in the Americas because its indigenous groups have a magical-religious relationship with them. In the beginning of the study of sacred plants, psilocybin, mescaline and ergotamine began to be classified as classical psychedelics, this categorization was of great help to psychiatry and neuroscience in the 1950s and 1960s.