Phytotherapy applied to the treatment of cultural bound syndromes in Calchaqui Valley (Salta, Argentina)

CRIVOS, MARTA; MARTÍNEZ, MARÍA ROSA; POCHETTINO, MARÍA LELIA

'Advances in Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Research'

Dr. Devarajan Thangadurai PhD

Año: 2008;

From the 1970s onwards, we have been performing ethnographic and ethnobotanic research in order to characterize traditional medicine in the Department of Molinos (Valles Calchaquíes, in the province of Salta, Northwestern Argentina). We have tried to approach -from an integral perspective the strategies developed to solve illnesses involving psycho-emotional and organic components- such as 'susto', - which are recognized in anthropological literature as illnesses of the spirit. Susto is a widespread and current syndrome, both in the culture and popular medicine of Latin America. According to Rubel, suffering from susto, being frightened/scared, is based on the widespread conception that an individual consists of a body and of immaterial substance, an essence, which can separate itself from the body, wander around freely, or else remain captive from supernatural forces. This essence can leave the body during sleep, particularly when the individual is dreaming, but it can also become separated as a consequence of a disturbing or scaring experience. This syndrome has also been reported among Mexican-Americans in the United States [1], Perú ([1, 2], Bolivia [3], Argentina [4, 5, 6], Colombia [1], among Guatemala groups [1]. Similar conditions have also been recorded, associated with impressions suffered by patients, in literature from the Philippines, India, the Popular Republic of China and Taiwan [1] Its appearance in wide geographical and cultural areas, its frequency and characteristics have aroused the interest of scientists in this culture bound syndrome. The unseparable character of ritual and pharmacological components in the cure of susto, has led to overrating the ritual and symbolic component, at the expense of the empirical aspects of the treatment. The authors, therefore, consider it a real challenge to enlighten this dark area of the consideration of this syndrome and other regional- scope 'illnesses of the spirit', which must inevitably be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. Consequently, the aim of this contribution is to characterize them from the point of view of the local perspective, to analyze current therapeutics and to discuss the relative importance of phytotherapy in the frame of the studied practices.