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On machismo, grief abreactions, andmexican culture: The case of mr. x, thecounselor, and the curanderaJesse R. Aros a , Paul Buckingham b & Xochitl Rodriguez ca Educational Research and Clinical Human Services Division ,University of Guam , Mangilao, Guam, USAb Department of Social Work , Brigham Young University , Provo,Utah, USAc Escuela Azteca , El Paso, Texas, USAPublished online: 17 Jan 2008.

To cite this article: Jesse R. Aros , Paul Buckingham & Xochitl Rodriguez (1999) On machismo, griefabreactions, and mexican culture: The case of mr. x, the counselor, and the curandera, Journalof Personal and Interpersonal Loss: International Perspectives on Stress & Coping, 4:1, 85-93, DOI:10.1080/10811449908409718

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ON MACHISMO, GRIEF ABREACTIONS, AND MEXICAN CULTURE : THE CASE OF MR. X, THE COUNSELOR, AND

THE CURANDERA

JESSE (JESUS) R. AROS

Educational Research and Clinical Human Services Division, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam, USA

PAUL (PABLO) BUCKINGHAM

Department of Social Work, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

XOCHITL RODRIGUEZ

Escuela Azteca, El Paso, Texas, USA

A single case study examines the use of a curandera (Mexican f o l k healer) in helping a 22-year-old traditional jrst-generation raza (an in-group reference for identSfying a Mexican individual of ful l or partial indigenous Mesoamerican heritage) male undergraduate student in a mid-sized cig in the southwestern United States resolve grief issues. This article assesses the possible linkage between grief

Received 19 April 1997; accepted 7 October 1997. The first author wishes to thank his coauthors for their roles in this project’s completion:

Pablo (Paul) Buckingham for instilling in me a love and a great appreciation via his cucntos for the case study’s utility in capturing our own raza’s dynamics and idiosyncracies and Xochitl Rodriguez, whose fervor and reverence for all things XuNalruutl truly “flavored” (for lack of a better term in standard American English) this manuscript in her own inimitable style. Special thanks go to Kris S. Morgan, Raquel Contreras, Hal Stevens, and Frank Silva, who unknowingly inspired at least two thirds of this coauthorship.

Best wishes and many thanks to Jose (Joe) Antonio Sanchez and, by default, “his” Hispanic network. His encouragement and long-term moral support of this project is greatly respected, appreciated, and, of course, acknowledged. To all of you and our readers, Zfzachil- atlan aik izpoliuiz!

Address correspondence to Jesse R. Aros, Educational Research and Clinical Human Services Division, College of Education, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam 96923, USA. E-mail: <jaros@uog9.uog.edu >

Journal of Personal and Interpersonal Loss, 4: 85-93, 1999 Copyright 0 1999 Taylor & Francis

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86 3. R. Aros el al.

abreaction based on an atypical response to sociocultural gender expectancies relative to machismo (socially sanctioned Mexican male scripts f o r ~~ender-appropriate” behavior, identijcation, and role evaluations) and individually based universal grieving needs (Xubler-Ross, 1969; Parry, 1990, Salcido, 1990). It is posited that Mexican American mental health professionals may not always be viewed as sanc- tioned change agents ly raza clients. Justijcations and a need to examine and include traditional healers are brit$y presented. A call f o r further exploration f application of this practice is issued.

Human responses to death, illness, and bereavement are often described as being transcultural, not surprisingly, this includes most Mexican grief and bereavement practices (Salcido, 1990). And yet, traditional Mexican perceptions about the body, the spirit, sickness, age, and decay, and group expectations about death and dying well or poorly, do differ from those of mainstream Euroamerican culture (Back-y-Rita, 1982 ; Parry, 1990 ; Salcido,

The Mexican culture is interpreted and practiced by more than 100 million Mexicans in Mexico and 14-15 million Mexican Americans with varying degrees of acculturation (Keefee & Padilla, 1987; Orozco et al., 1993; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993). This infers innumerable personal and sociocultural stra- tegies to grieving and healing, as well as several concurrent and competing schemata and scripts for Mexican Americans in general (American Psychological Association [APA], 1991 ; Gunnings, 1997). What quickly becomes apparent is that the Mexican culture, Anglo culture, and individual differences seem to dynami- cally interact in life as well as adjustment to loss. Seemingly, tens of millions of Mexican male nationals and millions of Mexican Amer- icans find not only solace, direction, and comfort in their grief and bereavement from cultura indigena but appear able to mediate con- flicting sociocultural demands with personal, if not universal, needs to actualize and grieve loss (Salcido, 1990). Still, we know little about culturally specific elements of coping and adjustment to per- sonal and interpersonal loss in Mexican Americans and Mexican culture in general (Parry, 1990; Salcido, 1990).

What we do know is that acculturation among Mexican Amer- icans seems to be negatively correlated with psychological adjust- ment and well-being Uuarez, 1985; Sanchez & Atkinson, 1983; Sue & Sue, 1990), inferring perhaps that it may be quite difficult

1990).

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Curanderismo and GriGf in Mr. X a7

to integrate two very different social frameworks or cultures (Sue & Sue, 1990).

A question arises; namely, what happens when an individual cannot psychologically respond in a healthy way to loss because of how she or he interprets a particular cultural mandate or social demand? Take the social character demand for machismo in Mexican culture (Fromm & Maccoby, 1996; Salcido, 1990). Like many patriarchal cultures, Mexican cultures involves strict rules and sanctions promoting “gender-appropriate” emotional displays for men and women (Fromm & Maccoby, 1996). ‘ 2 0 s hombres no llorun” (men do not cry) is an example of one such mandate (machismo) that may interfere with the grieving process if rigidly internalized ; however, a relative lack of clinical evidence among men of Mexican descent could suggest that a great many of us are able to accommodate their psychologically healthy grieving needs in a social context (Back-y-Rita, 1982; Salcido, 1990). As of yet, certain questions remain unanswered.

What can be done to assist a traditional Mexican American male in this circumstance? Could he be suffering a grief abreaction as an understandable response to his own particular take on machismo, countermanding competing personal, cultural, and perhaps, even universal grieving needs (Fromm & Maccoby, 1996; Kubler-Ross, 1969) ?

These queries underlie what may perhaps be a fairly atypical yet plausible predicament : how to intervene when seemingly diamet- rically opposed bereavement needs and internalized cultural man- dates are conflicted in a person who is traditional, male, and rutu. How can a culturally sanctioned change agent countermand, lift, or modify real or perceived internalized cultural expectancies in a traditional ruzu man (APA, 1991)? One answer is to add a curun- dera to the treatment team. The clinical case study presented here is merely one such example.

Method

Client Description and Informed Consent

Mr. X is a 22-year-old first-generation Mexican American man living in a large metropolitan city in the southwestern United

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States. In accordance with the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,” both informed consent and anonymity were explained to the client (APA, 1992). No payment was offered, and Mr. X’s decision to participate or not at any time would not affect the pro bono status of his counseling at a local barrio com- munity center. Mr. X graciously conceded to voluntary partici- pation based on the preceding conditions.

Procedure

In this qualitative clinical case study, our procedures relied on case conceptualization and treatment planning by Mr. X’s counselor (one of the authors) and related center staff. Thus, the unfolding of the clinical case study’s method must of necessity parallel the treat- ment process sequentially (May, 1996). In short, our procedures are covered in the Case Conceptualization and Treatment Plan- ning sections to follow.

Data

Case Conceptualization

Background Mr. X was referred for counseling by his physician following a

physical examination. The client presented himself for medical ser- vices with complaints of insomnia, neurasthenia, and general anhe- donia. After no medical reasons for these conditions were found, Mr. X was referred.

Intake revealed that Mr. X was a 22-year-old first-generation Mexican American male undergraduate student who had never been to counseling before. He reported that the onset of his symp- toms occurred on the day of the death of his younger brother in a gang-related shooting some 6 months earlier. The client did not report any sadness, but he indicated anger, and he seemed con- fused by queries from his counselor regarding his “grieving or actualization of his loss.” In total, Mr. X was seen for 10 sessions, not including 2 visits to a curandera (described later).

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Curanderismo and Griej in Mr. X 89

Conceptualixa tion As treatment progressed, it became clear from his disclosures

that Mr. X believed that to allow himself to cry or otherwise express his sadness would diminish his machismo or manliness in the eyes of his family, friends, and, thus, himself. As a consequence, the client reported feeling trapped and powerless to mourn and indicated a steadily increasing loss of energy to be angry, his primary means of experiencing his loss. This resulted in an increas- ing amount of depressive symptomatology, further stymieing Mr. X, who reported feeling “like a zombie.” It appeared likely that the depressive symptomatology was not just reflective of a tragic loss. There is little doubt that suppressive elements arising from his take on machismo were the issue complicating his bereavement, feeding into and mirroring as depression (Gonzales et al., 1997).

Treatment Planning

Precurandera The treatment plan was to create a holding environment for

strong emotion to explore what seemed to be the issue of and con- flicts surrounding the implosion of an emotional constellation of anger, sadness, and shame (Teyber, 1992). In short, using anger to mask sadness-and the shame that Mr. X seemed to feel with that sadness-was “no longer working.” Thus, the plan was to form a strong alliance with Mr. X, exploring the brother’s death and his thoughts and feelings about it, in hopes of getting to the sadness in a “safe environment” (Gonzales et al., 1997; Teyber, 1992). After the fifth session, the client reported no change, After the sixth and seventh sessions as well, no change was reported, even with seem- ingly good rapport.

Serendipity In the eighth session, while discussing what was not happening

for Mr. X and how hard this was for him (and it was!), the coun- selor had an “aha” experience, if not belatedly. Acting on it, the counselor asked Mr. X if he could give him permission to cry; the client responded in the negative. “What about a curandera?” asked the counselor. The client stopped, lowered his head, and, somewhat hesitatingly, consented. I t was agreed to have the client

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see the curandera, who was contacted by the counselor following a release of information. The curandera, the counselor, and the client would work together on this grieving and ethnocultural issue.

The Curandera’s Intewedon The client was instructed to present a tear-soaked handkerchief

before an icon of the Catholic Patron Saint of Mexico every day for 30 days. He was told to fast for 2 days during this time, to kneel before the icon to pray often for his brother, and to fill the hand- kerchief with his tears in this way. Mantanilla (chamomile) tea was prescribed and was to be used liberally, while alcohol and smoking were forbidden for this 30-day period.

Postcurandera Sessions 9 and 10 saw dramatic changes. The client was able to

emote in session, was sleeping 6-8 hours per night, and was report- ing more energy and more involvement in school, family, and social activities. After Session 10, termination was implemented, as it was agreed that Mr. X seemed able and willing to see himself through the rest of dealing with and actualizing his brother’s death. He was, in his words, curado (“cured”).

Discussion

It is debatable that Mr. X was wholly “cured,” as he expostulated. To the extent that a present time orientation is operative, and to the extent that this is a common trait in raza, resolution of psycho- logical conflict may be synonymous with symptom abatement in clients- such as Mr. X- with a strong present orientation (APA, 1991; Gonzales et al., 1997; Sue & Sue, 1990).

What “cured” or at least relieved Mr. X of his distress appeared to be the sanction to mourn and actualize the loss of his brother via the curandera. The curandera’s mandate superseded his own as an in-group healer, an insider with greater status than either himself or his counselor. She thus gave permission for the client to express his emotions, something his own internalized machismo may not have allowed.

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Curanderismo and Grief in Mr. X 91

I t is clear from this case study that even a Mexican American counselor may not readily “see” an opportunity to bring sociocul- turally sanctioned change agents into the treatment plan of his or her traditional raza clients. It is also clear that we must accept the fact that, as psychologists and counselors, we are not viewed as group-sanctioned change agents in many cases. Finally, it is evident that a curandera may well use psychological interventions, through mingled with religious and ethnocultural artifacts, that can impact certain clients in ways that we now cannot (APA, 1991 ; Back-y-Rita, 1982; Gonzales et al., 1997).

Limitations

Surely, as stated earlier, individuals (raza and those of other ethno- cultural backgrounds) seem to be both able and willing in most cases to mediate and circumvent any real or perceived psychosocial “blocks” to grieving, as far as our limited knowledge can now determine (Parry, 1990; Salcido, 1990). I t may (or may not) be a relatively rare occurrence that we are discussing here. There is much yet to be determined about how machismo and grief interact and accommodate and/or inhibit each other (Back-y-Rita, 1982 ; Salcido, 1990). Methodologically speaking, a single case study, however interesting or compelling, only describes itself. It does not provide validity estimation, nor does it propose or generate theory (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Thus, this single clinical case study can only describe itself and, it is hoped, generate ideas and interest in how to further apply and study this phenomenon (Borden & Abbott, 1991).

Conclusions

The utility and possibilities of interdisciplinary treatment in loss and bereavement are great, especially with respect to using tradi- tional healers in tandem with “usual” medical and mental health support staff (APA, 1991; Parry, 1990). This study seems to contain at least two general conceptual “strands.”

First, gender and cultural expectations with related sanctions need to be studied much more before we can go beyond description

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to inference and theory building. There is clinical anecdotal evi- dence suggesting that this could be a rich domain of inquiry in the future.

Second, we as clinicians are the ones who will likely need to have the “aha” experience in how to identify and integrate more traditional healers into our treatment team. Or is it vice versa?

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Jesse (Jesus) Aros is an assistant professor of Counseling & Human Development at the University of Guam.

Pad (Pablo) Buckingham is a clinical social worker with 25 + years’ experience currently working and consulting independently.

Xochitl Rodriguez is currently on hiatus from graduate studies in Counseling Psychology at UTSA preparing for her imminent marriage to Mr. Tomas Davila (laureles!).

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