The plants, rituals and spells that 'cured' helminthiasis in Sicily

Nápoli, Mariángela

doi:10.1186/1746-4269-4-21

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…Although the medicinal property reported is the classical one, antihelminthic (Michanek, 1979), already indicated by the specific epithet and the local Catalan name as well ("herba cuquera", meaning worm's herb), the ethnobotanical use of a seaweed is remarkable because of the relative rarity of algal and in general non-vascular plant records in ethnobotanical studies (Agelet and Vallès, 2003b and references therein). The use is coincidental with that claimed in Sicily (Napoli, 2008), another Mediterranean island, reinforcing the above-mentioned idea of the relevance of sea resources for island people.…”

Section: Importance Of Endemic Plants and Insularitysupporting

confidence: 65%

Ethnobotany of medicinal plants used in Eastern Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Mediterranean Sea)

Carrió

Vallès

2012

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

113

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Section: Importance Of Endemic Plants and Insularitysupporting

confidence: 65%

Ethnobotany of medicinal plants used in Eastern Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Mediterranean Sea)

Carrió

Vallès

2012

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

113

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“…Prayer is a means of dealing with psychosocial syndromes in numerous-if not most-societies (e.g. for depression among Caribbean immigrants in UK [57], for stress among South African township black women [58], for scantu (fright) in Sicily [59], for alcohol use, major depression, and PTSD among Navajo [60], and throughout Latin America for susto [19] and nervios [23]. The largely positive role of prayer and religiosity in mental health is well established (for a review see [61]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnomedicine and ethnobotany of fright, a Caribbean culture-bound psychiatric syndrome

Quinlan

2010

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background"Fright" is an English-speaking Caribbean idiom for an illness, or ethnomedical syndrome, of persistent distress. A parallel ethnopsychiatric idiom exists in the French Antilles as sésisma. Fright is distinct from susto among Hispanics, though both develop in the wake of traumatic events. West Indian ethnophysiology (ethnoanatomy) theorizes that an overload of stressful emotions (fear, panic, anguish or worry) causes a cold humoral state in which blood coagulates causing prolonged distress and increased risks of other humorally cold illnesses.MethodsQualitative data on local explanatory models and treatment of fright were collected using participant-observation, informal key informant interviews and a village health survey. Ethnobotanical and epidemiological data come from freelist (or "free-list") tasks, analyzed for salience, with nearly all adults (N = 112) of an eastern village in Dominica, and a village survey on medicinal plant recognition and use (N = 106).ResultsAlong with prayer and exercise, three herbs are salient fright treatments: Gossypium barbadense L., Lippia micromera Schauer, and, Plectranthus [Coleus] amboinicus [Loureiro] Sprengel. The survey indicated that 27% of village adults had medicated themselves for fright. Logistic regression of fright suffering onto demographic variables of age, education, gender, parental status and wealth measured in consumer goods found age to be the only significant predictor of having had fright. The probability of having (and medicating for) fright thus increases with every year.ConclusionsWhile sufferers are often uncomfortable recalling personal fright experiences, reporting use of medicinal plants is less problematic. Inquiry on fright medical ethnobotany (or phytotherapies) serves as a proxy measurement for fright occurrence. Cross-cultural and ethnopharmacology literature on the medicinal plants suggests probable efficacy in accord with Dominican ethnomedical notions of fright. Further, the cultural salience and beliefs about these medicines may give these medications extra psychoneuroimmune (i.e. mind-body) benefits, or placebo-like effects, for this stress-related folk illness.

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“…One of these elders is a blesser, the current matriarch of the community, and is widely recognized for her knowledge of medicinal plants. The role of traditional healers is recognized in the ethnobotanical literature, both in Brazil (e.g., Rodrigues 2006, Zank & Hanazaki 2012 and elsewhere (e.g., Bruschi et al 2011, Napoli 2008. In a broader geographic scale, Pirker et al (2012) showed that the traditional knowledge about medicinal plants can be influenced by urbanization and ongoing globalization processes and is challenged by shifts from traditional healing practices to modern healthcare facilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%