Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:49:08.395Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Bhanamati’ Sorcery and Psychopathology in South India

A Clinical Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. S. Keshavan ,
H. S. Narayanan  and
B. N. Gangadhar
M. S. Keshavan*
Affiliation:
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh
H. S. Narayanan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India
B. N. Gangadhar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India
*
∗3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, Pa 15213
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We describe the patterns of illness attributed to sorcery among 209 patients who attended a special clinic in south India. Somatisation and conversion disorders accounted for the majority of patients, although several other psychiatric and medical disorders were also seen. Aspects of treatment of such patients in the sociocultural context are discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 2 , February 1989 , pp. 218 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Boyer, P. & Nisselbaum, S. (1974) Salem Possessed: the Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Carstairs, G. M. & Kapur, R. L. (1976) The Great Universe of Kota. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Gautam, G. S. K. S. & Kapur, R. L. (1978) Psychiatric patients with somatic complaints. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 20, 75–80.Google Scholar
Janakiramaiah, N. & Subbukrishna, D. K. (1980) Somatic neurosis in Muslim women in India. Social Psychiatry, 15, 203–206.Google Scholar
Kapur, R. L., Kapur, M. & Carstairs, G. M. (1974) Indian Psychiatric Survey schedule. Social Psychiatry, 9, 71–76.Google Scholar
Keshavan, M. S., Isaac, M. & Kapur, R. L. (1980) Ill defined somatic symptoms in a South Indian rural clinic: some preliminary clinical observations. Tropical and Geographical Medicine, 32, 163–168.Google Scholar
Lambo, T. A. (1955) Role of cultural factors in paranoid psychosis among the Yoruba tribe. Journal of Mental Science, 101, 239–266.Google Scholar
Marwick, M. G. (ed.) (1970) Witchcraft and Sorcery; Selected Readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Narasimhaiah, N. (1982) Bhanamati Sorcery – a Report. Karnataka Government Press.Google Scholar
Neki, J. S., Joinet, B., Ndosi, N., et al (1986) Witchcraft and psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 145–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reid, J. C. & Munuggur, D. (1977) We are losing our brothers: sorcery and alcohol in an aboriginal community. Medical Journal of Australia, 2, Suppl. 4, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiser, J. P. & Eastwell, H. D. (1981) Labeling and cultural expectations: shaping of a sorcery syndrome in aboriginal Australia. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders, 169, 303–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spanos, N. P. (1978) Witchcraft in histories of psychiatry: a critical analysis and an alternative conceptualization. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 417–439.Google Scholar
Spiro, M. E. (1969) The psychological function of witchcraft belief: the Burmese case. In Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific (ed. Caudill, W. & Lin, T. Y.). Honalulu: East–West Center Press.Google Scholar
Tinling, D. C. (1967) Voodoo, witchcraft and medicine. Psychosomatic Medicine, 29, 483–491.Google Scholar
Wintrob, R. (1973) The influence of others: witchcraft and root work as explanations of behavior disorders. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 156, 318–326.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.