Abstract
The first paper of this section summarizes K. E. SCHMIDT'S brief report on concepts of mental illness found among the Murut of Central Borneo. In the previous issue of this Review [ Transcultural Psychiatric Research, 5 (1968): 140-44] T. DARMADJI and W. M. PFEIFFER described a Javanese tranceplay, kuda kepang. Other ritualistic possession states in Indonesia are reported on by W. M. PFEIFFER in this issue. He discusses how the community he observed recognizes the difference between possession states and mental illness. B. G. BURTON-BRADLEY discusses some of the cultural and psychiatric aspects of the amok syndrome in Papua and New Guinea. Drawing on extensive field observations of folk psychotherapy as practiced by a reputed tahu'a, R. I. LEVY describes characteristics of Tahitian native healers and their methods of diagnosis and treatment of illnesses which are attributed to spirit possession. Finally, the sociopsychological functions of the use of kava, a drink made from the macerated pepper tree root in the Polynesian islands of Tonga, are analyzed by E. M. LEMERT.
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