Estudio cualitativo sobre el Malestar: Perspectivas de la medicina tradicional en Cuenca, El Tambo y Saraguro - Ecuador

Antecedents and objective: The Andean cosmo-vision looks at the reality according to its paradigms, laws and principles based on the observation of nature and an analogical reasoning; the discomfort or disease has been understood as the imbalance of the harmony of being with oneself, with the family, with nature and with the cosmos. Therefore, the present study aims to understand the meanings and senses of the Kichwa malaise of the sages of ancestral medicine. Methodology: a qualitative, post-positivist phenomenological study of the discomfort was carried out from the perspective of traditional medicine with men and women of Andean wisdom from the city of Cuenca, El Tambo and Saraguro. A snowball sampling was used and for convenience. The interviews were recorded and transcribed literally. The data was analyzed with the Atlas program using content analysis Results: ancestral medicine for disease and health are unique concepts in which refer to a state of the human being and not only to the state of organs or isolated parts of the body. Important elements of discomfort are pain and suffering. Discomfort is shared, sufferings are communal and the healing of someone is also the healing of others. The discomfort born in the coexistence that is always communal, the discomfort of others is also the discomfort of each one. Conclusions: The discomfort in the Kichwa communities of Cuenca, El Tambo and Saraguro is caused by the disconnection or imbalance with oneself, with others, with nature and with the supernatural. The discomfort can be healed with the intermediation of the Yachaks or healers through different methods or elements, which constitutes a medicine different from conventional one whose approach is of the biochemical- molecular type.