One of our best friends (as Father Triest used to call his psychiatric clients) came last week in crisis. He intended to kill his wife and children. This man has been in treatment for years and was doing well until he neglected taking his medications.
This is a standard case in mental health; but it is brought to your attention because of the fact that it gave us another picture of the concept of mental health here in Ayacucho. The coexistence of the western concept of mental health and the local one makes for an astounding combination. The advice from our treating doctor was to change the patient’s medication and provide a kind of emergency treatment. The family thought that the patient should return to his normal mood in less than 24 hours. The fact that it didn’t happen so quickly led them to decide to take the patient to a “curandero” (witch doctor). The poor man was given several bottles of potions to use; some for his bath and others for drinking. The curandero promised a total recovery in three days after the initiation of treatment. The total cost was 150 Soles (more or less 54 USD) divided as follows: 50 Soles for consultation and 100 Soles for treatment. In Ayacucho, the traditional healer is more expensive than modern therapy. A visit to a medical specialist normally costs 30 Soles; while to see a curandero is more or less twice the same amount. This patient is one of the poorest we see and gets his medication for free at the Clinic. His situation reminds us that we still have a long way to go. Have we reached enough people in our campaign on mental health promotion? Functioning in a very traditional and conservative part of the country, COSMA has the challenge of providing mental health promotion and prevention. A large percentage of our patients come to us after they have visited the curandero and seen no result.
0 comments:
Post a Comment