Historical aspects of Mexican psychiatry

Abstract

Mexican psychiatry initiated since pre-Hispanic times. Historically, treatments were a mixture of magic, science and religion. Ancient Nahuas had their own medical concepts with a holistic view of medicine, considering men and cosmos as a whole. The first psychiatric hospital appeared in 1566 and a more modern psychiatric asylum emerged until 1910. International exchanges of theoretical approaches started in the National University with the visit of Pierre Janet. There were other important figures that influenced Mexican psychiatry, such as Erich Fromm, Henri Ey, Jean Garrabé and Yves Thoret.

Regarding Mexican psychiatrists, some of the most important contributors to Mexican psychiatry were José Luis Patiño Rojas, Manuel Guevara Oropeza and Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz.

This article includes excerpts from “Clinical Psychiatry”, a book by Patiño Rojas where he tries to understand and describe the inner world experienced by patients with schizophrenia; also, the thesis conducted by Guevara Oropeza (“Psychoanalisis”), which is a critical comparison between the theories of Janet and Freud. Finally, we include “The study of consciousness: current status” by Ramón de la Fuente, which leads us through the initial investigations concerning consciousness, its evolution, and the contributions made by psychology, philosophy and neurobiology.

Keywords:

• Mexico
• psychiatry
• history
• psychoanalysis
• consciousness

Acknowledgements

This is an abstract of the Thesis of Manuel Guevara Oropesa. (1943) From the Historic Archive of the Secretaría de Salud (Health department) in México. Fondo Manicomio General. La asistencia psiquiátrica en el Distrito Federal y en general el problema de la asistencia a alienados en la república [ The Psychiatric Assistance in Mexico City and the problem of assistence to the insane people in the Mexican Republic].

Acknowledgement

Ramón de la Fuente’s ‘The study of consciousness: current status’ was first published in Mental Health (Salud Mental), October 2002. Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 1–9.