MUDPACKS AND PROZAC MUDPACKS AND PROZAC Experiencing Ayurvedic, Biomedical and Religious Healing w Murphy Halliburton Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2009 by Left Coast Press, Inc. Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2009 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the p ublishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Halliburton, Murphy, 1964- Mudpacks and prozac : experiencing Ayurvedic, biomedical, and religious healing / Murphy Halliburton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59874-398-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-59874-399-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Traditional medicine—India—Kerala. 2. Cultural psychiatry—India—Kerala. 3. Medicine, Ayurvedic—India—Kerala. 4. Healing—Social aspects—India—Kerala. 5. Human mechanics—India—Kerala. 6. Kerala (India)—Social life and customs. I. Title. GR305.5.K4H35 2009 954'.83—dc22 2009019105 Cover design by Hannah Jennings Hardback ISBN 978-1-59874-398-2 Paperback ISBN 978-1-59874-399-9 For Amy, Luca and Sophie and Th e people suff ering mental distress who shared their stories with me. May they fi nd some relief. CONTENTS Acknowledgements 9 1 Introduction 11 2 Th ree Th erapies of South India 41 3 Lives and Problems 91 4 Experiencing the World from Body to Ātman 139 5 Cooling Mudpacks: Th e Aesthetic Quality of Th erapy 159 6 Conclusion: Pleasure, Health and Speed 195 Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Questions 205 References 207 Index 223 About the Author 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people helped with the design, development and completion of this project, and unfortunately I will only be able to name a few here. I fi rst acknowledge my debt to my mentors at the Department of Anthropology of the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, Vincent Crapanzano, Shirley Lindenbaum, Joan Mencher and Setha Low. Equally crucial to this endeavor was the generous assistance of many in the mental health fi eld in Kerala, India. Th is project would truly not have been pos sible without the tireless assistance and devoted friendship of Dr. K. Gireesh, clinical psychologist of the Trivandrum Mental Health Centre. Also fun- damental to my fi eldwork eff orts and the development of my knowledge of health and healing are Dr. V. George Mathew (Department of Psychology, University of Kerala), Dr. K. Sundaran (Government Ayurveda Mental Hospital, Kottakkal), Dr. John Baby (Department of Psychology, University of Calicut) and Dr. K. A. Kumar (Trivandrum Medical College Hospital). I am also greatly indebted to my research assistants, Kavitha N. S., T.R. “Biju” Bijumohan and Benny Verghese for their insights and service and for making the research process so much more enjoyable. Meanwhile, for making the early phases of this project a more pleasant process, I am grateful for the support of Hugo Benavides, Aseel Sawalha, Jonathan Shannon, Molly Doane, Kee Yong and Alcira Forero-Peña. Earlier versions of this manuscript benefi ted greatly from the insights of Th omas Csordas, Michael Nunley and Kevin Birth and the thorough and thoughtful work of the anonymous reviewers of this project. Finally, I profoundly appreciate the enthusiastic, hard-working staff of Left Coast Press, especially their insightful and encouraging senior editor Jennifer Collier, for their eff orts and support. 9