Family structure in a schizophrenic patient of Aymara origin

estudio de caso

Abstract

The concept of mental health of the West is different from that of the Andean world, since according to the World Health Organization (2013), it defines the term of health under the paradigm of human well-being that includes basic needs, however within the world Andean and Aymara culture, is the balance and harmony in several planes, the spirit-body unity. So the concept of disease is different in Aymara culture than in the west. The known schizophrenia in the world of science has different causes, within the Andean world the symptoms can be manifested for different reasons all with a mythical discourse characteristic of their culture. So the belief system of the origin of the disease is different, so the intervention may vary. In the case study of Ceferina, a patient of Aymara origin who was hospitalized in the psychiatric “San Juan de Dios” could not react to the treatment provided by this, the reasons are closely related to the traditional medicine he had before his hospitalization, in addition to not obtaining sufficient support from his family, which brutally harmed the patient. All this was seen through an analysis of the family structure and belief system that it has regarding the disease.