Anthropology & medicine
December 1, 2022
Manuela R Müller, Francisco Ortega, Angel Martínez-Hernáez
13 citations
Mental health care in Brazil has undergone reforms that view mental health as a complex social process, yet cultural dimensions of suffering are often overlooked. This paper follows a patient in Rio de Janeiro who chose therapy based on her Afro-Brazilian religious beliefs—using ayahuasca in Umbanda—instead of standard mental health treatment. Using concepts of autoatención (self, domestic, and group care in lay contexts) and medical landscapes, the authors examine how therapeutic negotiations reflect embodied cultural traits and social and political determinants. They argue that recognizing sociocultural differences and therapeutic negotiations is key to more inclusive health practices, relevant both in Brazil and globally where local and global knowledge intersect.
Anthropology & medicine
December 1, 2017
Divya Padmanabhan
8 citations
The paper critiques the DSM-5's classification of possession as a form of dissociative identity disorder, arguing that this pathologizes a condition understood as non-pathological in other contexts, such as at a temple in Kerala, South India. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it contends that medicalizing possession converts a form of distress into a disease, reducing the temple to a culturally acceptable site for mental illness and denying alternative conceptualizations. The paper examines the DSM's singular notion of self, the distinction between pathological and non-pathological possession, and the equation of the condition with its manifestation, then briefly presents alternative views from those who heal possession at the Chottanikkara temple.
Anthropology & medicine
January 1, 2012
Johan Wedel
6 citations
Mass spirit possession among the Miskitu of northeastern Nicaragua, known as grisi siknis, has shifted from small outbreaks involving a few adolescents to large-scale epidemics affecting all ages. This change coincides with social conflicts and tensions in Miskitu society. Based on 11 months of participant-observation in Puerto Cabezas (2005-2008) and interviews with 38 informants, the paper shows that socioeconomic, cultural, personal, and environmental factors all contribute to outbreaks. Previously labeled a culture-bound syndrome unique to the Miskitu, grisi siknis shares features with other involuntary mass spirit possessions worldwide. The authors argue it should be understood as a Miskitu version of this broader phenomenon, not a culture-bound condition.
Anthropology & medicine
August 1, 2018
Eva Bleyenberg, Koen Stroeken
An affliction of the skin called pese, found in Kigoma, Tanzania, has been overlooked in medical anthropology. Based on 27 interviews, the study describes pese alongside a similar local condition, kisigo, and suggests that two illness concepts for the same affliction exist because they originate from different cultures: pese is linked to witchcraft (sorcery), while kisigo is tied to spirit possession. A symbiotic relationship between the healing traditions of the Bembe and Ha peoples appears to exist. Government policies that prohibit witchcraft and target traditional healers have seemingly pushed witchcraft practices and beliefs to the periphery, where they survive clandestinely.