A wealth of research into medical and healing traditions of Maya communities has been conducted. Previous research has also explored unique conceptions of health and disorder held by Maya peoples. This study adds the voices of Q’eqchi’ Maya healers of southern Belize to this accruing research. Working from Indigenous research paradigms, a nine-month ethnographic study with six practicing members of the Q’eqchi’ Healers Association (QHA) of Belize occurred. The QHA is an endogenous grass-roots association formed in 1999 to preserve Maya medical knowledge and healing practices. In collaboration with the QHA members, this research focused on the healers’ conceptualizations and treatments of mental illness and disorders. During ethnographic research, 94 in-depth qualitative interviews with the six members of the QHA and 43 observations of healing encounters occurred. Twenty-six additional interviews were held with patients and participation in other healing ceremonies and cultural gatherings frequently took place. From the analysis of these data, there are 17 different mental illnesses and disorders recognized by the Q’eqchi’ healers that fall within one of four broad “narrative genres.” The main argument of the dissertation is that these “narrative genres” are epistemological structures that the healers use to “read” and “emplot” specific cases of illness to which they attend. Since narrative theory and research focuses largely on individual patient experiences, this study expands contemporary theory by looking at the Q’eqchi’ healers medical epistemology through a narrative lens. It is argued that a deeper understanding of Q’eqchi’ conceptions of mental illness and disorder can also aid dialogues between the “traditional” healers and biomedical practitioners working within the Belize Ministry of Health while also improving the treatment of Q’eqchi’ patients. This research adds to the areas of applied ethnography, narrative theory, Indigenous epistemology, cultural psychiatry, medical anthropology, and medical pluralism.

Indigenous people tend to consult traditional healers when a family member manifests change in behaviour, whilst conventional treatment disregards spirituality when preserving mental health. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of indigenous people and the role of traditional healers in the management of mentally ill persons within the Cacadu District in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study has adopted a qualitative approach which was exploratory and descriptive in nature. The sample consisted of nine relatives of mental health care users (MHCUs) and six traditional healers. Ethical principles were also taken into consideration by the researcher during the process of conducting the study. Data were collected from two strata, namely, relatives of the MHCUs and the traditional healers and an interview guide was used to conduct in-depth face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed using Tesch’s method of data analysis. Four themes emerged from the data categories and sub categories were identified. According to the themes participants indicated the negative impact of mental illness; as a result they portrayed great desperation regarding the means of accessing a cure for mental illness. Some participants showed insufficient knowledge regarding mental illness and had different perceptions and beliefs regarding the origin of mental illness. Available literature was used to emphasise and support the views that were expressed by both traditional healers and relatives of MHCUs. It has been highlighted from this study that indigenous people of Cacadu District view mental illness as spiritual in origin but they include Western medication for the benefit of the mentally ill. In addition, the relatives of the MHCUs highlighted the economic burden as the major problem that results from mental illness.

Orientador: Jose Luiz dos Santos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T06:42:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dias_MarceloKimati_D.pdf: 3287178 bytes, checksum: e693a5cc96924592eccbebedfc775c29 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Não informado. / Abstract: Not informed. / Doutorado / Doutor em Ciências Sociais

Orientador: Paulo Dalgalarrondo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T23:25:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Moraes_PauloAugustoCostivellie_M.pdf: 81784882 bytes, checksum: f16e045d8c51eae7735517cc074fd3f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A religião voltou a ser considerada uma questão importante para a sociedade contemporânea. Fenômeno bastante complexo é atualmente considerado um elemento extremamente significativo para a sua vida sócio-cultural. Atribui-se à religião um papel fundamental para as pessoas encarceradas, atuando como fator protetor da Saúde Mental e incentivando a recuperação do infrator. Existem poucos estudos que relacionem saúde mental e religiosidade em presidiárias . Também não se conhecem pesquisas e estudos que enfoquem a religiosidade das mulheres presas e a forma como esta é experienciada no cotidiano de uma prisão de segurança máxima e as conseqüências nas vidas destas mulheres. Objetivos: Verificar o perfil de Saúde Mental e a relação entre religião e Saúde Mental. Analisar também como a Saúde Mental e a religião influenciam a vida das presidiárias e como lhes fornecem maior suporte psíquico e emocional. Descrever o cotidiano da penitenciária durante o período em que ocorreu a pesquisa, o perfil das presas e o ambiente em que vivem. Investigar alguns aspectos da experiência subjetiva das detentas enfocando os aspectos relacionados à espiritualidade (enfatizando-se as manifestações religiosas de origem pentecostal e neopentecostal), conversão religiosa e ao sofrimento. Método: Foi utilizado um questionário de autopreenchimento que incluiu dados sócio-demográficos, religiosidade (atual e anterior ao aprisionamento), Saúde Mental e perfil criminal. Para os aspectos psicopatológicos foi utilizado o General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Foram entrevistadas 358 mulheres, detentas da Penitenciária Feminina da Capital - São Paulo - SP de Março de 2003 a Dezembro de 2004. Foram feitas análises estatísticas descritivas e bivariadas, comparando-se todas as variáveis com o GHQ-12. Foi utilizada também a análise de regressão logística multivariada para as respostas dicotômicas para as variáveis que possivelmente interagiram com a Saúde Mental. / Abstract: Nowadays religion is an important issue for the modern society, a complex and fundamental socio-cultural phenomenon. There is evidence that religious commitment tends to correlete positively with the mental health. The religion seems to have an important role or the mental health of jailed women. It provides psychological and emotional support, bringing them comfort, meaning and hope. This study intents to verify the mental health profile and the relation between religion and mental health, to analyse how mental health and the religion influence the life of jailed women as well, and to provide more psychological and emotional support. It describes too, the quotidian of female detainees, their profiles and the prisional enviroment where they are living and investigates some aspects of their subjective experience. A self-filling questionaire was used wich includes social, demographic, religious (present and before jailing), mental health and crime profile data. Concerning the psychopathologic matters General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used. 358 women were interviewed from "Penitenciária Feminina da Capital" (São Paulo, SP - Brazil ) from March, 2003 to December, 2004. Descriptive and bivaried statistcs analysis was accomplished comparing all the variables with GHQ-12. Multivaried regression logistic analysis was used to get the dichotomic answers to the variables that would possibly interact with mental health. A bigger persona' religiosity was associated to better mental health. Associations between crime type and mental health were not found. / Mestrado / Saude Mental / Mestre em Ciências Médicas

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:28:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Paulo V B e Azevedo.pdf: 3414417 bytes, checksum: 54ac1ec125fcb10c62ef1c5059b81be8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-14 / Objective: To determine the prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents from an indigenous population living in isolated tribes in the Brazilian Amazon. Methods: This is an analytical prevalence study in a sample of 192 indigenous children and adolescents from Karajá ethnicity, aged between 7 and 14 years old. The prevalence were determined using the syndrome scales of mental health problems according to the ASEBA questionnaires. The Child Behavior Checklist 6-18 (CBCL) and the Teacher Report Form 6-18 (TRF) were used for the screening of these problems. The difference among the prevalence found in the two questionnaires as well as the risk association between gender and schooling and mental health problems were evaluated. Results: A total prevalence of problems of 34.38% with the CBCL and of 23.44% with the TRF was found (p < 0.00). There was an association between the occurrence of these problems in the subjects attending the second phase of fundamental school (6th to 9th year of formal education). Conclusion: The prevalence of mental health problems found was high when compared to studies with other cultures around the world. It was observed that even in human populations who preserve the primordial cultural aspects of their ancestors who lived 10.000 years ago, psychiatric problems exist and have clinical presentations that are similar to those found in modern civilized societies, in which the cultural context may influence the manifestations of such problems. / Objetivo: Determinar a prevalência de problemas mentais em crianças e adolescentes de uma população indígena vivendo isolada em tribos na Amazônia Brasileira. Métodos: Estudo de prevalência analítico em amostra de 192 crianças e adolescentes indígenas da etnia Karajá, entre os 07 e 14 anos de idade. As prevalências foram determinadas pelas escalas síndromes de problemas de saúde mental de acordo com os questionários do ASEBA. Foram utilizados para detecção desses problemas os Inventários de Comportamentos para Crianças e Adolescentes de 6 a 18 anos (CBCL) e de Comportamentos Referidos pelo Professor para Alunos de 6 a 18 anos (TRF). Foi avaliada a diferença entre as prevalências encontradas nos dois questionários e a associação de risco entre o sexo e a escolaridade e os problemas de saúde mental. Resultados: Foi encontrada uma prevalência de problemas totais de 34,38% com o CBCL e de 23,44% com o TRF (p < 0,00). Houve associação entre a ocorrência de problemas mentais e o sexo e a escolaridade, com maior ocorrência desses problemas nos sujeitos cursando a segunda fase do ensino fundamental. Conclusão: A prevalência de problemas de saúde mental encontrada foi alta comparada aos estudos com outras culturas ao redor do mundo. Observou-se que mesmo em populações humanas que preservam os aspectos culturais primordiais dos seus ancestrais que viveram há 10.000 anos, existem problemas psiquiátricos com apresentações clínicas similares às encontradas em sociedades modernas civilizadas, podendo o contexto cultural influenciar nas manifestações desses.

Magister Artium - MA / This biography of Dr Vera Bührmann is an intersectional and interdisciplinary investigation of an unusual Afrikaner woman who occupied several unusual places in South African society. Through rigorous archival research and a wide reading of English and Afrikaans secondary sources, I examine the mythology that has grown up around Dr Bührmann and expose contradictions and inaccuracies inherent within these myths. I adopt a chronological approach but focus on certain key motifs. I dwell on her family background in order to demonstrate the depths of the Afrikaner nationalist tradition to which she was heir. I uncover the impact that physical anthropology had on her during her initial medical training at Wits and UCT in the 1930s. I highlight the intensity of her commitment to, and leadership roles in, the Ossewa-Brandwag and Dietse Kinderfonds, both extremist right-wing Afrikaner nationalist organisations. Vera’s marital crises reveal something of her ‘human’ side but are an important component of her story because she reinvented herself following her divorce in the early 1950s, furthering her medical qualifications as well as training as a Jungian analyst. I investigate the various fields in which she worked following her return to South Africa in late 1959 but focus on her cross-cultural psychiatry research with a Xhosa igqira in the 1970s and 1980s since much of the mythology that surrounds her is based on publications that flowed from that research. I engage critically with her published works and associated archival records and present evidence which shows that the view that she underwent a ‘Damascus Road’ experience with respect to her racial politics is unfounded. The racial politics of her ancestors and the ideology of the radical right-wing Ossewa-Brandwag remained with her throughout her life, despite attempts (by Vera and others) to camouflage it. In addition, I show that her use of Jungian depth psychology as a framework for cross-cultural psychiatry research contributed to the reification of apartheid racial politics. This study draws attention to the many pioneering achievements of this remarkable woman but argues that a more nuanced approach to her legacy is needed in light of the evidence of her persistent racial prejudice.

In this qualitative, interpretive, multi-perspective study a new and promising salutogenic imagery approach developed in Germany, called Value-Oriented Imagery (Wertimagination/WIM®) was researched in regard to its applicability in multicultural (non-European) contexts. A second question researched was whether specific cultural or regional “dialects” would be encountered in the universal inner picture language of persons from other (non-European) cultural backgrounds than the one the approach was developed within. A WIM® study with eighteen participants from African South African, Asian South African and European South African cultural backgrounds was conducted in Johannesburg in 2011 and 2012. The results were analysed and compared with WIM® work experiences from Germany. Subsequently the results of the comparison were discussed in three WIM® expert interviews: with Uwe Boeschemeyer, Stephan Peeck and Andreas Boeschemeyer. The main outcome of this research study is that Value-Oriented Imagery can be seen as a rewarding contribution to South African multicultural (logo)therapy/ counselling contexts. Only minor cultural and regional “dialects” occurred in the universal inner symbols of the RSA study participants, such as the occurrence of more water features, especially waterfalls, and more spontaneous, unintended Healthy Inner Child encounters. The present study suggests that work with Value- Oriented Imagery could make a valuable contribution within any cultural and multicultural (logo)therapy/counselling context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Two prominent historians, David Cannadine and Brad Gregory, have recently contended that history is distorted by overemphasis on human difference and division across time and space. This problem has been acute in studies of Native-Newcomer relations, where exaggeration of Native pre-contact stability and post-contact change further emphasized Native-Newcomer difference. Although questioned in economic, social and political spheres, emphasis on cultural difference persists. To investigate the problem, this study examined the Algonquian wihtiko (windigo), an apparent exemplar of Native-Newcomer difference and division. With a focus on the James Bay Cree, this study first probed the wihtiko phenomenon’s Native origins and meanings. It then examined post-1635 Newcomer encounters with this phenomenon: from the bush to public opinion and law, especially between 1815 and 1914, and in post-1820 academia. Diverse archives, ethnographies, oral traditions, and academic texts were consulted. The cannibal wihtiko evolved from Algonquian attempts to understand and control rare but extreme mental and moral failures in famine contexts. It attained mythical proportions, but fears of wihtiko possession, transformation and violence remained real enough to provoke pre-emptive killings even of family members. Wihtiko beliefs also influenced Algonquian manifestations and interpretations of generic mental and moral failures. Consciously or not, others used it to scapegoat, manipulate, or kill. Newcomers threatened by moral and mental failures attributed to the wihtiko often took Algonquian beliefs and practices seriously, even espousing them. Yet Algonquian wihtiko behaviours, beliefs and practices sometimes presented Newcomers with another layer of questions about mental and moral incompetence. Collisions arose when they discounted, misconstrued or asserted control over Algonquian beliefs and practices. For post-colonial critics, this has raised a third layer of questions about intellectual and moral incompetence. Yet some critics have also misconstrued earlier attempts to understand and control the wihtiko, or attributed an apparent lack of scholarly consensus to Western cultural incompetence or inability to grasp the wihtiko. In contrast, this study of wihtiko phenomena reveals deeper commonalities and continuities. They are obscured by the complex evolution of Natives’ and Newcomers’ struggles to understand and control the wihtiko. Yet hidden in these very struggles and the wihtiko itself is a persistent shared conviction that reducing others to objects of power signals mental and moral failure. The wihtiko reveals cultural differences, changes and divisions, but exemplifies more fundamental commonalities and continuities.

In this qualitative, interpretive, multi-perspective study a new and promising salutogenic imagery approach developed in Germany, called Value-Oriented Imagery (Wertimagination/WIM®) was researched in regard to its applicability in multicultural (non-European) contexts. A second question researched was whether specific cultural or regional “dialects” would be encountered in the universal inner picture language of persons from other (non-European) cultural backgrounds than the one the approach was developed within. A WIM® study with eighteen participants from African South African, Asian South African and European South African cultural backgrounds was conducted in Johannesburg in 2011 and 2012. The results were analysed and compared with WIM® work experiences from Germany. Subsequently the results of the comparison were discussed in three WIM® expert interviews: with Uwe Boeschemeyer, Stephan Peeck and Andreas Boeschemeyer. The main outcome of this research study is that Value-Oriented Imagery can be seen as a rewarding contribution to South African multicultural (logo)therapy/ counselling contexts. Only minor cultural and regional “dialects” occurred in the universal inner symbols of the RSA study participants, such as the occurrence of more water features, especially waterfalls, and more spontaneous, unintended Healthy Inner Child encounters. The present study suggests that work with Value- Oriented Imagery could make a valuable contribution within any cultural and multicultural (logo)therapy/counselling context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)