Trance and possession in Bali
Subtitle: a window on Western multiple personality, possession disorder, and suicide
By: Luh Ketut Suryani, Gordon D. Jensen.
Contributors: Jensen, Gordon D.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Kuala Lumpur; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
Subjects: Trance -- Indonesia -- Bali Island; Demoniac possession -- Indonesia -- Bali Island; Spiritual healing -- Indonesia -- Bali Island; Multiple personality -- Cross-cultural studies; Psychiatry and religion; Bali Island (Indonesia) -- Religion
Description: Trance in Bali has not been studied extensively since Belo's descriptions of the 'possession state' fifty years ago. In this book, the authors describe the psycho-social experiences of the Balinese in trance-possession states during traditional healing, dance, drama, and gamelan performance, as well as in several mental disorders, and arrive at the conclusion that Balinese trance-possession is the same process as multiple personality disorder (MPD) in the West.

The authors then go on to develop criteria for the diagnosis of possession and to present a new theory of possession. They also offer multifold comparisons of normal trance-possession in the Balinese with the condition called MPD in the West

. A collaboration between a Western psychiatrist with wide experience of Balinese culture and mental health and a Western-trained Balinese steeped in the local culture, this book will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, suicidologists, and allied mental health professionals.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [242]-258) and index.