Beideyes in Kurigram district of Bangladesh: Their knowledge of common mental health problems and possible role in primary health care

Abstract

Traditional medicine is the wisdom crystallization of human civilization, which has made an indelible contribution to human surviving and multiplying. Even-today, with highly developed modern science and technology, we still need to face the complexity of life and disease. Countries around the world are re-examining the status and the role of traditional medicine to raise the level and reduce the costs of health care. In order to achieve the goal of “Health for All”, World Health Organization has clearly advocated to vigorously promoting the use of traditional medicine. Traditional medicines are used to treat common mental health problems, which have often been viewed as culturally specific problems, and so these treatments have been seen as effective only in this specific context. However, empirical medical experience appears to demonstrate the opposite, indicating instead that the therapeutic techniques of indigenous or native people have a transcultural dimension, responding to human constants that are invariable or archetypal. An ethnomedicinal survey was carried out amongst Beideyes [traditional medicinal practitioners] of several villages in Kurigram district of Bangladesh. It was ascertained in a preliminary survey that the population of these villages relies primarily on these Beideyes for treatment of common mental health problems. Extensive interviews were conducted of the Beideyes and plant samples as pointed out by the Beideyes were photographed, collected, deposited and identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. Some of the plant names obtained in this survey included Oroxylum indicum [stem], Desmodium motorium [leaf], Crataeva religiosa [bark, leaf], Santalum album [stem], Nicotiana tobacum [leaf], Mimosa diplotricha [seed, root], Piper cubeba [fruit], Camellia sinensis [leaf], Costus speciosus [tuber root], Brassica napus [seed], Coffea arabica [seed], Bacopa monnieri [all parts], Asparagus racemosus [root], Cocos nucifera [fruit juice], Ocimum gratissimum [all parts], Lawsonia inermis [leaf], Cinnamomum camphora [all parts], Hemidesmus indicus [root], Datura metel [fruit, root], Piper betle [all parts], and Withania somnifera [all parts]. Since the rural population in Kurigram district of Bangladesh mostly do not have access to primary medical facilities, the above plants can form the basis of treatment for common mental health problems without resorting to costly urban visits and/or allopathic practitioners.