104 chapter
the English term “feel,” meaning in this case something like “upset.” Two other
informants we will meet later, Mary and Hanifa, describe their problems using
the English word “tension.” A variety of English terms for emotional states
have been adopted into Malayalam, both diversifying people’s repertoires for
expressing distress while possibly displacing some Malayalam idioms. While I
am not able to determine whether the proliferation of English language emo-
tional idioms involves a decrease in the use of Malayalam terms for distress,
the increase in English emotional terms appears to coincide with a decrease in
the incidence of spirit possession as well as a homogenization of the identities
of possessing spirits (Halliburton 2005).
Biju asked Sreedevi’s mother what problems remained, and what, if any,
further treatment needs to be done:
She is saying “Why is medicine being given to me.” Th at’s her opinion: “I don’t
have anything, doctor.” When we saw the doctor here, we were asked to continue
for one year, right? Th at period is about over, right? “Now why should I continue
for one more year” she says. She wants to have a family. Th at’s why she wants
to know whether it will take much longer. Th at’s one of her problems. “I have
recovered due to the conversation. I understood.”Sreedevi’s mother repeats that the only problem now is that Sreedevi feels
she is fi ne and is questioning why she has to continue taking medicine. Sreedevi
spoke up on this issue herself and told us, “I have been taking medicine for sev-
eral days now, and I don’t know what my illness is.” Offi cially completing her
treatment, and the “clean bill of health” that can be claimed from doing so, can
enhance Sreedevi’s marriage prospects. Families negotiating a marriage often
feel compelled to reveal such illnesses and to point out that therapy was com-
pleted in order to reassure the prospective family—even though such mental
diffi culties often reoccur. It is, of course, tempting to hide information about
mental illness, but if someone is marrying within their community, which
is usually the case, prospective families are likely to learn of such problems
through their social networks. Th us it is important to head off such concerns
with an assertion that the problem has been treated, and this is what the fi rst
psychiatrist was suggesting when he said, as Sreedevi’s mother recounted, “You
should inform the husband’s family when you get married.”
Th e assertion that Sreedevi has recovered through “conversation” is some-
what unique. In most of our interviews with patients of allopathic and ayurvedic
therapies, there was little discussion of the counseling that is given—narratives
about therapy experiences focus more on medications and treatment proced-
ures such as electroconvulsive therapy or the ayurvedic medicated mudpacks
and enemas. Th is could be because Sreedevi’s current ayurvedic psychiatrist has