Publication Date

Fall 2025

Abstract

Historical migration from ancestral territories in La Araucanía has brought a large portion of the Mapuche population to Santiago, where La Pintana now hosts one of the city’s most concentrated Indigenous communities. These movements, shaped by discrimination, loss of language, and cultural displacement, have had lasting effects on mental health and identity for Mapuche residents living in an urban environment. This study asks how intercultural perspectives of healthcare influence the ways Mapuche and non-Mapuche populations navigate mental health in La Pintana. It analyzes the urban factors in La Pintana that influence mental health and the level of intercultural mental health implementation in the commune. It also explores how cultural perceptions of users and providers affect outcomes for Mapuche and non-Mapuche patients to identify the resilient resources within the Mapuche community that support mental health promotion and recovery.

A qualitative ethnographic approach was used to conduct ten semi-structured interviews with providers and patients, along with unstructured observations in Family Health Centers (CESFAMs), the Community Mental Health Center (COSAM), and Indigenous health centers that include local Ruka spaces. This method reveals how individuals move between biomedical and traditional systems and how cultural identity, history, and place shape their interpretations of illness and healing. The results showed how Mapuche intergenerational trauma is linked to discrimination and urban stressors that affect mental wellbeing. Participants described how noise, pollution, and limited access to green spaces intensified anxiety and emotional distress, while the loss of cultural ties contributed to depression, substance use, and conditions better framed within Mapuche concepts of imbalance. Care-seeking behaviors differed between levels of Indigenous self-identification, reflecting tensions between cultural familiarity, identity conflict, and trust in traditional medicine. At the same time, traditional practices such as herbal baths, ceremonies, and spiritual cleansing offered emotional relief and complemented biomedical treatment. Community programs, gardens, and spiritual spaces emerged as important sources of resilience within La Pintana. These outcomes suggest that intercultural mental health care is most effective when it acknowledges the spiritual, emotional, and environmental dimensions of wellbeing for both Mapuche and non-Mapuche residents. Furthermore, strengthening collaboration between biomedical providers, traditional healers, and local Indigenous associations can support a more culturally grounded and holistic model of mental health care for the commune.

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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