2000, Number 4
El juramento: maniobra no médica, coadyuvante en el manejo de los sujetos con consumo patológico de etanol en México. Aproximación inicial
Zabicky G , Solís LR
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 11
Page: 22-27
PDF size: 120.25 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Pathological alcohol consumption related disorders in Mexico and worldwide, stand as the most incidental pathology in the area of mental health. Even tough, and despite of major efforts attempted by medicine in order to manage alcoholism and it’s consequences, it has not been possible to achieve the goal of offering a really successful treatment for alcoholics, and we have still quite a long way to go in this direction. Facing the relative incapability of science to efficiently maintain the patient alcohol-free, individuals, families, communities and social environments, in general, have chosen to put into practice nonmedical maneuvers aiming to stay sober. These strategies are born from their own idiosyncratic, religious and cultural contexts in which they have developed and grown. In Mexico, it has become a frequent practice to attend to one of the many Catholic churches to “juramentarse” (swear) before the Virgin of Guadalupe and several other saints, that they are to remain sober with their help an in their devotion’s name, for a determinate period of time. For mental health workers dealing with alcoholics in Mexico this is a tradition widely known and, nevertheless, very few (or virtually none) mentions of it are found in the mexican or international literature of medicine and psychology available today. The present study approached 18 subjects with DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnosis of severe abuse or dependence from alcohol, who were previously recruited in a specialized center, and were interviewed voluntarily for a descriptive and narrative study, using a qualitative interview, provoked and free formulated in medical-social investigation. An interview with the priest in charge of the service, in the most important church of Mexico City (La Basílica de Guadalupe) is included. From the interviews, we found the commonalties of the stories and other elements of interest for this study, as well as a short case, which was included as well, representing the most classical profile of the subject involved in this phenom ena. It is pretended to define in general terms, the whole maneuver in itself, as well as investigating how its effectiveness is perceived by those questioned. Also, to generate a profile of those inclined to undertake this strategy. The oral descriptions mention the temporality of the study subject; in other words, in what moment of their life or of their disease they took this measure. There were referrals that compared between this alternative and others that exist, and about how this one is promoted in the general population. There were remarks about religiosity, morals and psychological elements involved in their pathologies. It was widely considered that “jurar” was a highly effective strategy in most of the cases, even better than the other techniques experimented.REFERENCES