Good Things in Colombia: Fungrata and Psychohistory

Colombia in the North American mind is synonymous with addictive substances, corruption, organized crime, rebellion and gratuitous violence. Colombia last flashed across my consciousness when the Colombian soccer player, who inadvertently scored a goal for the other team at the World Cup Games in the USA, was shot dead upon returning home.

The Colombia I experienced in Bogota in May, 1992, was a different story. It was comprised of bright, friendly people so eager to learn about psychohistory that I lost my voice endlessly explaining and lecturing on it. It also had the most effective program for the homeless mentally ill I have ever seen. I visited the Fungrata Institute for Homeless Psychotics at its main facility, about half­an­hour by car from downtown Bogota, where I found a thriving therapeutic community. It is housed in low tile and cement buildings surrounding a larger multipurpose center. The physical environment is pastoral and beautiful. The lack of locks and gates adds to the sense of freedom.

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The patients were identifiably psychotic, but their attitude was generally cheerful. They were much more open and friendly than I have found chronic schizophrenics and manic depressive patients to be in or out of institutions in the USA. They felt protected and proud of their home. A number came over to greet me and Alberto Fergusson, the psychiatrist/­ psychoanalyst who is the organizer of both Fungrata and psychohistory in Colombia as well as a Psychohistory Forum member.

I was introduced to the patients, the staff and a number of student interns, one of whom took me on a tour of the facilities. A group of patients on their lunch break from work or therapy joined in the tour of their community of which they were justifiably proud. One talked to me a great deal and somewhat inappropriately which on occasion caused some embarrassment to the other patients who explained that she was “loco.” All patients, I discovered, are in intensive treatment. The modalities are occupational and group therapies as well as psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Drugs are not used extensively. The entire facility is organized effectively to further therapeutic goals, preparing the homeless psychotics to live within the confines of society. Most are trained to work in a laundry, bakery and on the farm. I also visited a busy laundry in downtown Bogota where “graduates” of Fungrata worked while living in a dormitory nearby. It seemed to be an efficient operation.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with the dedication of the professional staff and employees and mostly with the success of the Fungrata Institute in helping a mostly forgotten group. Some of the homeless psychotic outcasts of Bogota have found a temporary home and a hope for a better life. I marvel at the most caring and efficient program for homeless psychotics, to the best of my knowledge, being in a society with incredible poverty and social problems.

The enthusiasm for psychohistory of the Colombians I met is also most encouraging. They eagerly listened to lectures on childhood, creativity, methodology, politics, psycho­ biography and war, but were at their best in small discussion and dream groups. Though, like all beginning psychohistory groups, they have to struggle with the varying levels of knowledge of their members, they have made a good start. So, I hope the next time you hear about some atrocity in Colombia, you will stop to think of Alberto Fergusson and some of his delightful colleagues and good works. I certainly do.

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