three therapies of south india 87
healers either work out of their homes, or they found ashrams and develop a
small group of followers.
People suff ering mental distress on rare occasions visit practitioners of
homeopathy and naturopathy. While the terms “homeopathic” and “natur-
opathic” are used in Western New Age discourse to label ayurveda and other
non-Western medical practices, in India these terms actually designate Western
medical practices that have been locally adopted. Homeopathy developed in
Germany and involves the administration of small doses of medication to
cue the body to fi ght illness. Naturopathy, meanwhile, developed in the nine-
teenth century in California and was later modifi ed in India with an infusion
of Gandhian orientations to nature, diet and health. Naturopathic healers say
they are able to resolve mental and physical problems through a proper diet
of natural, uncooked foods. Other forms of therapy including south Indian
Siddha medicine, which is practiced more widely in the neighboring state of
Tamil Nadu, and what are known as “tribal medicines” of the indigenous, sup-
posedly pre-Aryan peoples who reside in the mountains of Kerala, are avail-
able although I did not encounter people who had used these therapies.
Finally, I will add to this list of therapeutic options a treatment center that was
opened by my research assistant Benny Verghese while I was completing fi eld-
work on this project. Benny was a graduate student in the psychology program
at the University of Calicut in northern Kerala when I met him, and he assisted
me with interviews at the Government Ayurveda Mental Hospital. In our meet-
ings and discussions of psychopathology and psychiatric pluralism in Kerala, he
spoke of his vision of opening his own treatment center that combined elements
of diff erent therapeutic systems. By the end of 1997 he had inaugurated his
Th anal Institute for Psychological Services, which combines practices and phil-
osophies from clinical psychology, naturopathy, yoga and Christianity. When I
last visited the Th anal Institute in 1999, Benny had several patients and a small
staff , and he explained that he had successfully helped several patients who had
little success in other therapies. Benny’s institute can be seen as a representative
of a certain type of healing center found in Kerala, one that is eclectic and sui
generis, combining elements of diverse healing systems. Many towns and cities
in Kerala feature centers like this, often started by a healer with training in a par-
ticular fi eld, such as ayurveda or pastoral counseling, who incorporates methods
from other therapeutic practices, such as homeopathy or reiki.
Th is introductory gaze at the diverse therapeutic systems of Kerala pro-
vides important context for understanding the experiences of patients who
utilize these healing systems. Th e affl ictions of patients, meanwhile, speak
to the diversity of life events and social practices that are entangled in the
world of health and the healing of mental distress. A variety of desires and