7. Caribbean, Central and South America

Abstract

Acute psychotic reactions with schizophrenic-like symptoms (bouffée délirante) are common in developing countries (cf. last abstract in this issue's Africa section). According to J. A. BUSTAMANTE, these reactions, based on his ex periences in Cuba, are often precipitated by migration from one culture to another or by internal migration. H. FABREGA and his associates studied the psychiatric implications of the medical beliefs and practices of the Maya Indians of Tenejapa, Chiapas, Mexico. A clinical summary prepared by one of their informants illustrates salient features of a folk illness which labels socially disordered behavior and how the Mayan social unit copes with the illness. M. BENZI, an ethnologist, reports on the peyote hallucinations of the Huichol Indians living in the Jalisco and Nayarit states in Mexico. He gives a detailed account of the origins and rules of peyote use. A third paper pre senting observations in Mexico follows. M. KEARNEY studied alcoholism in the Zapotec-Mestizo village of Ixtepiji in Oaxaca, where drunkenness is en demic. He discusses the influence of folk beliefs on drinking behavior, and the role of religious conversion as a means of escape from institutionalized drinking patterns. The last paper in this section is by C. A. SEGUIN of Peru. He deals with the role and function of Latin American native healers in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. NOTE: See also the review of Y. KUMASAKA and H. SAITO'S article, "Kachigumi: A collective delusion among the Japanese and their descend ants," in the General and Theoretical Issues section, pp. 18-22.