Traditional aromatherapy in the clinical context of a therapeutic community for the treatment of substance use disorders
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25081/jmhe.2022.v8.7539Keywords:
Perfumeros, aromatic plants, traditional Amazonian medicine, ritualAbstract
Western medicine and psychotherapy have historically overlooked the potential of engaging the sense of smell for therapeutic purposes. However, in other medical traditions, such as that of the Peruvian Amazon, specific therapeutic interventions based on the use of aromatic plants are commonly performed in conjunction with other healing modalities. Traditional specialized healers locally known as perfumeros conduct such healing sessions. This research describes how this kind of traditional Amazonian aromatherapy is used in the context of Takiwasi center, a therapeutic community specialized in the treatment of substance use disorders. Participant observation was carried out by shadowing the healers in charge of specific aromatherapy sessions including the so-called plant baths, sahumerio, and saunas. Additionally, semi structured interviews were conducted with several members of Takiwasi’s therapeutic staff, and non-peer reviewed publications and audio-video materials present in the Takiwasi archive were consulted and used as original data for this research. Data on users that received a plant bath from July 2019 to February 2021, were also acquired and discussed. The cosmology beyond this kind of traditional aromatherapy includes concepts such as “energetic body” and “spiritual entities”, opening the discussion on something beyond the mere materialistic aspect of aromatic chemistry and pharmacology.
Downloads
References
Alarco de Zadra, A. (2000). Perú, el libro de las plantas mágicas. (2nd ed.). Lima, Peru: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica.
Berlowitz, I., Torres, E. G., Walt, H., Wolf, U., Maake, C., & Martin-Soelch, C. (2020). “Tobacco Is the Chief Medicinal Plant in My Work”: Therapeutic Uses of Tobacco in Peruvian Amazonian Medicine Exemplified by the Work of a Maestro Tabaquero. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11, 594591. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.594591
Berlowitz, I., Walt, H., Ghasarian, C., Mendive, F., & Martin-Soelch, C. (2019). Short-Term Treatment Effects of a Substance Use Disorder Therapy Involving Traditional Amazonian Medicine. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 51(4), 323-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2019.1607956
Beyer, S. V. (2009). Singing to the plants: A guide to mestizo shamanism in the upper Amazon. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Brack Egg, A. (1999). Diccionario Enciclopédico de plantas útiles del Perú. Cusco. Perú: PNUD/CBC, 566 p.
Bussmann, R. W., & Sharon, D. (2006). Traditional medicinal plant use in Northern Peru: tracking two thousand years of healing culture. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2, 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-2-47
Callicott, C. (2013). Interspecies communication in the Western Amazon: Music as a form of conversation between plants and people. European Journal of Ecopsychology, 4, 32-43.
Fotiou, E., & Gearin, A. K. (2019). Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca. Social Science & Medicine, 239, 112532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112532
Freeman, M., Ayers, C., Peterson, C., & Kansagara, D. (2019). Aromatherapy and Essential Oils: A Map of the Evidence. Washington (DC): Department of Veterans Affairs (US).
Giovannetti, C., Arce, S. G., Rush, B., & Mendive, F. (2020). Pilot Evaluation of a Residential Drug Addiction Treatment Combining Traditional Amazonian Medicine, Ayahuasca and Psychotherapy on Depression and Anxiety. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 52(5), 472-481. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1789247
Giove, R. (2002). La liana de los muertos al rescate de la vida, medicina tradicional amazónica en el tratamiento de las toxicomanías. Tarapoto, Perú: DEVIDA.
Giove, R. (2014). Ritual de ayahuasca, patrimonio cultural del Perú. Revista Inter-Legere, 15, 238-245.
Gire, D. H., Restrepo, D., Sejnowski, T. J., Greer, C., De Carlos, J. A., Lopez-Mascaraque, L. (2013). Temporal processing in the olfactory system: can we see a smell? Neuron, 78(3), 416-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.04.033
Hamann, F. R., Brusco, I., de Campos Severo, G., de Carvalho, L. M., Faccin, H., Gobo, L., Oliveira, S. M., & Rubin, M. A. (2019). Mansoa alliacea extract presents antinociceptive effect in a chronic inflammatory pain model in mice through opioid mechanisms. Neurochemistry International, 122, 157-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuint.2018.11.017
Hoover, K. C. (2010). Smell with inspiration: the evolutionary significance of olfaction. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 143(S51), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21441
Horák, M. (2013). The House of Song. Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts by the Traditional Indigenous Medicine of the Peruvian Amazon. Brno: Mendel University in Brno.
Howes, D. (1998). Sensory healing. International Journal of Aromatherapy, 8(4), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0962-4562(98)80077-5
Jauregui, X., Clavo, Z. M., Jovel, E. M., & Pardo-de-Santayana, M. (2011). “Plantas con madre”: Plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 134(3), 739–752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2011.01.042
Kadohisa, M. (2013). Effects of odor on emotion, with implications. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 66. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2013.00066
La Torre, M. A. (2003). Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. Madison, 39(1), 35-37.
Labate, B. C. (2014). The Internationalization of Peruvian Vegetalismo. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond. UK: Oxford University Press.
Lee, M. S., Choi, J., Posadzki, P., & Ernst, E. (2012). Aromatherapy for health care: an overview of systematic reviews. Maturitas, 71(3), 257-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2011.12.018
Luna, L. E. (1986). Vegetalismo: shamanism among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Stockholm.
Mabit, J. (2006, 6-8 Octobre). A propos de la pratique des tabaqueros. In Actes du 2ème Congrès de Lyon Le Tabac, Plante d’enseignement et de guérison (pp.17-28). La Maison Qui Chante Ed.
Mabit, J. (2020). La integración de la sabiduría ancestral en el tratamiento de las dependencias: el caso del Centro Takiwasi. Dialogos transdisciplinarios ancestrales, 1(1).
Mabit, J., & Mariscal, J. M. G. (2013). Hacia una medicina transcultural: Reflexiones y propuestas a partir de la experiencia en Takiwasi. Journal of Transpersonal Research, 5(2), 49-76.
Marcus, O., & Fotiou, E. (2019). Convergent Therapies in Peru’s Amazon. In R. Shepard & S. L. Ginzburg (Eds.), Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean (pp. 117-137) Washington: Lexington Books.
Mejia, K., & Rengifo, E. (1995). Plantas Medicinales de Uso Popular en la Amazonía Peruana. Lima: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional.
Moussaieff, A., & Mechoulam, R. (2009). Boswellia resin: from religious ceremonies to medical uses; a review of in-vitro, in-vivo and clinical trials. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 61(10), 1281-1293. https://doi.org/10.1211/jpp/61.10.0003
O'Connor, S., & Jacob, T. J. C. (2008). Neuropharmacology of the olfactory bulb. Current Molecular Pharmacology, 1(3), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874467210801030181
Politi, M., & Friso, F. (2018). Amazonian medicinal plants botanical garden of Takiwasi Center in Peru; a case report of 25 years’ hands-on experience. Horticulture International Journal, 2(3), 69-71. https://doi.org/10.15406/hij.2018.02.00028
Politi, M., Friso, F., & Mabit, J. (2018). Plant based assisted therapy for the treatment of substance use disorders - part 1. The case of Takiwasi Center and other similar experiences. Revista Cultura y Droga, 23(26), 99-126. https://doi.org/10.17151/culdr.2018.23.26.7
Politi, M., Rojas, G. S., Rumlerová, T., Marcus, O., Romero, J. T., & Mabit, J. (2019). Medicinal plants diet as emerging complementary therapy from the Amazonian tradition. Data from Centro Takiwasi, a Peruvian therapeutic community. Journal of Medicinal Herbs and Ethnomedicine, 5, 23-28. https://doi.org/10.25081/jmhe.2019.v5.5692
Reyes-Garcia, V. (2010). The Relevance of Traditional Knowledge Systems for Ethnopharmacological Research: Theoretical and Methodological Contributions. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 6, 32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-6-32
Ross, S. M. (2007). Aromatic plants, spirituality, and sacred traditions. Holistic Nursing Practice, 21(6), 331-332. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.hnp.0000298618.34631.49
Ross, S. M. (2010). Aromatic plants, spirituality, and sacred traditions II. Holistic Nursing Practice, 24(6), 355-357. https://doi.org/10.1097/hnp.0b013e3181fbb8b3
Saucedo, G., Friso, F., Torres, J., & Politi, M. (2018). Uso de tecnologías de la información en la gestión de un centro de medicina integrativa especializado en adicciones. Revista Peruana de Medicina Integrativa, 3(3), 123-131.
Schneider, R., Singer, N., & Singer, T. (2019). Medical aromatherapy revisited - Basic mechanisms, critique, and a new development. Human Psychopharmacology, 34(1), e2683. https://doi.org/10.1002/hup.2683
Semin, G. R., & de Groot, J. H. B. (2013). The chemical bases of human sociality. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(9), 427-429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.05.008
Sharifi-Rad, J., Sureda, A., Tenore, G. C., Daglia, M., Sharifi-Rad, M. Valussi, M., Tundis, R., Sharifi-Rad, M., Loizzo, M. R., Ademiluyi, A. O., Sharifi-Rad, R., Ayatollahi, S. A., & Iriti, M. (2017). Biological Activities of Essential Oils: From Plant Chemoecology to Traditional Healing Systems. Molecules, 22(1), 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22010070
Shepard, G. H. (2004). A sensory ecology of medicinal plant therapy in two Amazonian societies. American Anthropologist, 106(2), 252-266. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2004.106.2.252
Steele, J. J. (2006). The Sacred Use of Fragrance in Amazonian Shamanism. In J. Drobnick (Eds.), The Smell Culture Reader, New York: Berg Publishers.
Tresca, G., Marcus, O., & Politi, M. (2020). Evaluating herbal medicine preparation from a traditional perspective: insights from an ethnopharmaceutical survey in the Peruvian Amazon. Anthropology & Medicine, 27(3), 268-284.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13648470.2019.1669939
Wasi, E. W. (2004). Las plantas medicinales en la visión Kechua-Lamas. Lima: PRATEC.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Antoine Renard, Giorgia Tresca, Luigi Menghini, Rebecca Lazarou, Gary Saucedo Rojas, Fabio Friso, Matteo Politi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
.