Nerve disorders and their treatment in the 20th–21st c. traditional medicine applied in Užpaliai area

Rolandas Petkevičius

Today’s disease treatment tradition in the area of Užpaliai is very syncretic combining not only olden but also modern methods. The old understanding of nerve disorders is significantly affected by biomedical categories (depression, nerves). Nevertheless, basic structures of traditional medicine remain with new means being adapted easily. So, it is possible to speak about a hypothetical model of traditional diagnostics the core of which relies upon different disorders of sudden and long-lasting emotional experience, which untreated develop from a mild to heavier form. To fight against the cause and the result, different strategies and different means are used. Their analysis showed that fumigation that up to now was considered as a magic mean implicates many rational traits. A complex of joint application of plant and ritual means in traditions of using magic spells has been defined. The results of the present study enable to perform anew the assessment of archive data collected during the 19th–21st c. period and formulate more precisely the trends in ethnomedical investigations.