Susto Or Fright Disease: A Mythological Analysis

The exponential growth of the western biomedicine philosophy has created a society in which heavily relies upon the notion of fixing the “broken machine” by “killing” microorganisms. However what biomedicine leave to the wayside is the notion of holistic health – health that encompasses the body, mind, and soul. Whilst the dominant definition of health currently, some cultures still haven’t prescribed to the ideology as yet. Unique to the Latin Americans of Central America, and the Trinitarian peoples of Bolivia, Susto or “fright disease” displays many of the same symptoms attributed to PTSD. However, onset and treatment vary drastically from typical biomedical cures. Whereas PTSD is the result of a traumatic event leading to depression, Susto’s most common definition is that of a traumatic event causing the loss of one’s soul, which in turn may lead to depression alongside a host of other …show more content…
Treatment options stray even further away from conventional biomedicine – calling for culture specific healers or herbal mixtures. Thus, unique cultural etiology in conjunction with geographic factors, Susto can be defined as a culture bound syndrome (CBS), unique to Latin American’s and Trinitarian peoples.
At its core, the lay individual may simplify susto as a psychiatric depressive disorder. Thus definition however negates the cultural meaning and understanding of the core mechanisms of susto – the concept of the “soul leaving the body” is central to the dogma of this disease. As a result, one cannot attempt to understand Susto without first understanding the spiritual belief systems in conjunction with the concept of the soul in relation to the onset of the disease. Trinitarians people believe that every living individual is equipped with three sombras/souls – each of which can be separated from the physical body. Typically this separation is attributed to the case where an