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The episode explores ancient folk medicines and traditional healing practices (often referred to in a Western context as "witch doctors") and how some of these methods were being re-evaluated for use in modern mental health institutions
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00:00With the magic powers believed to dwell inside a cloud of smoke, a Mayan healer performs an ancient cure.
00:13The rising smoke will lift away the patient's evil spirits.
00:20In an age-old Inca ritual, the fertile power of a tiny rodent is symbolically transferred to a troubled patient.
00:30To us, this kind of medicine may seem primitive and strange, for it is the work of people we call witch doctors.
01:00In remote places throughout the world, ritual and magic play a vital role in treating illness.
01:07Though ancient forms of healing may appear bizarre, they are often successful, even today.
01:15In remote places throughout the world, ritual and magic play a vital role in treating illness.
01:22Though ancient forms of healing may appear bizarre, they are often successful, even today.
01:35This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
01:48The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
01:56According to many old movies, witch doctors are fierce-looking natives, frantically performing strange rituals.
02:09Based on their apparent healing ability, however, witch doctors should not be shrugged off lightly.
02:25Among the Zulu of Africa, he is the Ganja. The Tungus tribes of Siberia call him Shaman.
02:33To the North American Indian, his name means medicine man. In Latin America, he is the Kurandero.
02:39The familiar term witch doctor was invented by European explorers to describe the role of healers in foreign cultures which they did not understand.
02:48If we attempted to scoff at the work of witch doctors, we should remember that throughout history,
02:53witch doctors have enjoyed as much success in their respective cultures as physicians have in ours.
03:00In the Yucatan region of Mexico, an annual religious ceremony intermingles the strong traditions of both Spanish and Mayan culture.
03:17A holy procession invokes the power of the Mayan rain god, Shaq.
03:36The culmination of the ceremony, however, takes place in a Christian cathedral.
03:45Adorning the cathedral's face are ancient Mayan signs for the gods of the sun and the moon.
03:52Here, where Mayan culture is still alive, ideas about illness and health are often strikingly different from our own.
04:03At 86, Philippa Chu is a respected Mayan witch doctor with a reputation for possessing especially strong powers.
04:13Today, a mother has brought her daughter to Philippa for help.
04:20The young girl wishes to marry a man her mother does not approve of.
04:26The mother hopes that Philippa's powers can dispossess the girl of her seeming obsession.
04:34She has brought several special plants and a strong local alcohol which will aid Philippa in her cure.
04:49Using the potent alcohol as well as herbs believed to have curing properties, Philippa concocts a powerful potion.
05:04Philippa is renowned for her use of so-called white magic, ridding people of spirits or hexes which they believe can afflict them.
05:11In her native Mayan language, Philippa chants to the spirits that are believed to affect the girl, urging them away.
05:25Rubbed directly onto the skin, the potion purges the spirits from the body.
05:40When the unwanted spirits have been completely driven away, the potion is given a final blessing.
06:05To ensure that the spirits will not return, the potion must be swallowed.
06:15Whether the result of Philippa's magic or merely the power of a mother's persuasion and concern, the cure was successful.
06:24The girl decided to give up her plans for marriage, at least for now.
06:41In the lush jungles of the Yucatan, Anciana Santana stalks a valuable quarry.
06:47The objects of his hunt are berries, herbs, and plants with medicinal power.
07:02Santana is an herbalist, familiar with the special properties of hundreds of different tropical plants.
07:12With them, he will make an incredible variety of folk medicines.
07:29Santana's knowledge dates from ancient times.
07:34Both the Aztecs and Mayans had a highly developed medicinal pharmacopoeia.
07:39Cactus contained chemicals still used for the treatment of burns.
07:44Ipecac roots provided a cough remedy.
07:49The Dioscoria plant relieved skin disease.
07:53Every day, outside his simple hut, Anciana Santana is called upon to provide treatment for the ill.
08:04A troubled man complains of persistent headaches.
08:18Santana often determines if he can indeed provide a cure by dividing the nature of the illness with the aid of a small glass ball.
08:29Once having decided that a cure is possible, Santana carefully prepares the proper plants and herbs.
08:44Often, the leaves are cooked to enhance their medicinal power.
09:01Finally, the herbal medicine is ritually sealed in a bottle.
09:12Santana prescribes the dosage and tells his patient to return if the remedy is not effective.
09:23A surprising number of present-day drugs owe their discovery to primitive herb doctors throughout the world.
09:31Common aspirin has its origin in the bark of willow trees.
09:37Digitalis from foxglove leaves still is used to stimulate failing hearts.
09:44Quinine from cinchona bark provided the first cure for malaria.
09:52There is more to ancient medicine than a knowledge of healing plants.
09:59We are now beginning to understand the other forces at work in the witch doctor's rites of healing.
10:05Rites that are still performed with astonishing results.
10:11The Peruvian Andes, jagged domain of ancient Inca civilization.
10:20The magnificent city of Machu Picchu perched at the edge of a world filled with magical forces.
10:35In the cool mountain winds, there coursed hundreds of spirits whose powers affected all aspects of life.
10:46The power to cause illness was thought to reside in the spider.
10:53The spirit of health lived in the sun.
11:07With an old Inca witch doctor, or San Koyak, Dr. Fausto Aguilar practices an ancient Inca ritual.
11:14Leaves from the sacred coca plant are offered to the sun god in request for the power to cure.
11:35Dr. Aguilar holds degrees in both medicine and psychiatry.
11:39Yet, Aguilar has found that with many of his patients, he must also use traditional healing rituals which are deeply ingrained in Peruvian culture.
11:54In his offices on the outskirts of Lima, symbols and customs serve as powerful medicine.
12:00Dr. Aguilar still performs the ancient ceremonies which are believed to ensure protection from the powers of evil spirits.
12:08His patient is a woman who was infertile.
12:11His patient is a woman who was infertile.
12:13And I ask you, my blessed Father, that you will help me in every moment.
12:17With your sacred forces, with your mighty forces.
12:21Though the patient is technically cured of her physical problem, Dr. Aguilar must also take into account the effect on the patient of cultural beliefs.
12:34And so, the cure begins.
12:36A long wooden rod symbolizes the healer's divine power.
12:40The rod will create a protective barrier to guard the patient from the return of malevolent spirits.
12:59A final prayer invokes the curing powers of the gods of the sun and the moon.
13:20In the early 19th century, when western trained physicians began to practice their skills in Africa and Asia,
13:41they found that patients often did not respond to treatments and therapy that were effective in Europe.
13:46Increasingly, we are discovering that cultural tradition and belief play a powerful role in healing.
13:52That a patient often cannot be understood or cured away from his culture.
13:58Today, in Los Angeles, a unique program recognizes the power of culture in healing.
14:07At the Metropolitan State Mental Hospital, certain patients receive regular care from a witch doctor.
14:13Leon is a Mexican curandero.
14:19Before each curing ritual, he appeals to a great master for the power to heal and exercise evil spirits.
14:32His patients are Mexican-Americans with strong ties to their native culture.
14:37The ceremony begins with prayer.
14:40Afterwards, Leon ritually exercises each patient's evil spirits.
14:48His first patient, Pedro, suffers from a kind of cultural shock.
14:57Raised in a small Mexican village, Pedro's first exposure to the urban world of Los Angeles was emotionally overwhelming.
15:05Out of fear, he detached himself from reality and lapsed into a catatonic state.
15:11With all the powers he can summon, Leon concentrates on the particular spirits which he perceives to afflict each patient and works to drive them away.
15:30When Leon has completed his spiritual exorcisms, each patient receives a cup of water which is ritually blessed and imbued with beneficial power.
15:49The water is a universal symbol of cleansing and health.
15:56The curing ritual ends as it began, in communal prayer to the spirits of health.
16:14Ignacio Aguilar is the founder and director of this remarkable clinic named Zipetotec, after the Aztec god of spring and rebirth.
16:35In treating people who believe that mental disorders are often caused by curses or bewitchment, Aguilar uses ancient curing ceremonies to augment conventional treatment.
16:50Maria suffers from a severe loss of identity and self-esteem, and a crippling sense of personal guilt.
16:57As part of his efforts to treat Maria's complex emotional problems, Aguilar performs an age old Aztec healing ritual.
17:20Smoke from fire, the visible form that all spirits take, symbolically draws malevolent forces out of her body.
17:27Maria draws malevolent forces out of her body.
17:34Aguilar commands that Maria's evil spirits go away.
17:48The leaves on a branch represent these spirits still clinging to her body.
17:57As each leaf breaks off, an unwanted spirit is symbolically cast away.
18:02A man not only realized, in a strange way.
18:09A man not only understands how is the one who is free, but the one who is free, but the one who is free but the one who is free,
18:15in a great way.
18:23Aguilar tells Maria that she has been cleansed, that she is no longer possessed.
18:53Now he tells her she is a new woman.
19:09For Maria, the ancient ceremony has a powerful cathartic effect.
19:13My father, my father, my father, my mother, I was waiting for her to not be so happy.
19:30Symbols are very important things in our lives.
19:34And it's very important that we surround a patient that comes to a hospital where everything is alien to him in terms of his culture.
19:41That these symbols be a vivid connection in order to establish a therapeutic relationship.
19:47Hence the importance of having symbols like what you see on the walls and what you have seen throughout the ward.
19:52And what we're trying to do here is to provide treatment that in effect works to the extent that the person gets well.
20:00And when a patient comes with this kind of a problem to the hospital and we provide the proper mediums, he lives and he lives well.
20:11Familiar music is another powerful cultural tool that Aguilar uses.
20:26For the once totally withdrawn Pedro, it has provided the first step back into reality.
20:32For the first step back into reality.
20:33There are many people who are there.
20:34To their ownạch original culture.
20:38There are many people in the world who have led the world to the paris and this square was the first step back into reality.
20:41To the first step back into reality.
20:42If I see what I see now, I can suffer for your surrender.
20:44But I will now be a refuge in the center of my life.
20:49When viewed outside of their cultural environment,
21:01the magical art of the witch doctor can be easily dismissed.
21:05Yet, in places where beliefs about the causes of illness are different from our own,
21:10the so-called witch doctor can function as an effective healer.
21:13A mastery of natural herbal remedies,
21:16and the fact that most illnesses are overcome by the body's own defenses
21:20greatly aid the witch doctor's power.
21:23Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that many illnesses are psychosomatic.
21:28The ability to inspire confidence, trust, and faith
21:31is one of the most potent medicines of any doctor.
21:46Even though they create a mental health system,
21:48there is an excellent sense of the human health system,
21:49the ability to overcome character and further evolve.
21:51It's not the only one that has moved on to your community,
21:52it's the only one that has been done.
21:54Therefore, the transfer of the natural health system
21:54will ensure that the transition to notice is often not only about the issues of a disease,
21:56but of the effects of a disease.
21:57It has been an easy way toify the disease.
21:58It shows that he has threatened to suppress the disease.
22:00It is necessary to reject the disease.
22:01Are you using five areas ofaha for example?
22:02It has been a leading people's disease in this pain?
22:03A clinical system that has yet to treat the disease,
22:05is it has been wonderful for the disease?
22:08Or is it is still a direct effect?
22:10Dr. Paul Dien rhizalus
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