| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This project describes "A Study of Culture-Bound Syndrome among Quiche" funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) for 1998 and 1999.
This study, carried out in three Guatemalan farming villages among Quiche and Kaqchikel Mayan Indians in highland Guatemala investigated the healing ritual of folk-healers (curandero/a), and the prevalence and cultural, social and psychological factors of Susto.
Result :
It is widely believed that susto "fright" is a sickness brought on by soul-loss and unless cured, will culminate in death. A variety of unexpected incidents can engender susto. Most of these have been physical and nonsocial : a fall in a river, a fall from a tree, an encounter with a dangerous animal, e.g. a snake. But these have been changing to modern threats like a traffic accident and a fearful trauma caused by civil war.
This folk illness is manifested in various psychiatric and physical states, including schizophrenia and bronchitis. Since susto includes a wide range of elements, western scientific medicine is not very helpful in understanding or treating of susto.
Susto, a Culture-Bound Syndrome related to acute fright, may be viewed as a cultural manifestation of distress that includes a recovery system from psychosocial stress. A person afflicted with susto can escape from psychological stresses engendered within a cultural framework. He suffers a catharsis and is brought back to life and be integrated again.
Susto shows culture and the human mind and body have evolved together and their dynamic interaction exists.
We could observe healing rituals for susto for 11 cases in this study and interviewed 57 villages (37 females, 20 males). the prevalence rate was 57% for female (10% for males), mostly married people grounded in traditional culture.
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