O “pensamento concentrado”: concepções sobre saúde mental e bem viver na pajelança do povo Tembé/Tenetehar

Abstract

This dissertation proposes an analysis of what we understand by mental health from the perception of the Tembé/Tenetehar people themselves, as well as their overlaps and forms of treatment of these conditions carried out by the pajelança and its many specialists. To this goal, a bibliographical survey will be carried out on the different forms that mental health can take among indigenous peoples, such as its overlaps with cosmology, dreams and shamanism, to allow comparison with the reality of the Tembé/Tenetehar people and their demands. When trying to translate our understanding of what mental health would be to the Amerindian reality, we encounter several barriers, with several attempts resulting in situations where Western forms of thought overlapped with indigenous ways of reflecting on the phenomenon. Amerindian societies perceive what we understand by mental health based on their own ontologies, cosmologies and ways of thinking. Thus, it is expected to contribute to knowledge on mental health among the Tembé/Tenetehar people and their demands so that their reflections are respected and taken into consideration in the analysis, addressing issues related to the topic from an anthropological perspective and trying to build bridges between indigenous forms and western medical concepts.