Mental disorder among the Incas in ancient Peru

The work of the chroniclers served as a source of information about the occurrence of mental diseases among the Incas. From this source it appears that melancholy was by far the most important disease among mental disorders. The disease did not only affect the common Incas: melancholy was rather fre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of psychiatry 1999-09, Vol.10 (39), p.303-318
Main Author: Elferink, Jan G.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ancient civilization
Clinical psychology
Depression - history
History
History of medicine
History, 15th Century
History, Early Modern 1451-1600
History, Medieval
History, Modern 1601
Humans
Inca
Indians, South American - history
Mental Disorders - history
Mental illness
Peru
Traditional medicine
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Summary:The work of the chroniclers served as a source of information about the occurrence of mental diseases among the Incas. From this source it appears that melancholy was by far the most important disease among mental disorders. The disease did not only affect the common Incas: melancholy was rather frequent among the family of the Inca emperor. Like other diseases, mental diseases were treated by the Incas with a mixture of magic and empirical medicinal products. The latter were mainly of botanical nature, but also some minerals were applied to treat depressive disorders. Some typical syndromes of contemporary folk medicine, such as susto and related ailments, were not mentioned by the chroniclers.
ISSN:0957-154X
1740-2360
DOI:10.1177/0957154X9901003902