Ships of fools and vessels of the divine: Mental hospitals and madness, a case study

Rural Balinese conceive of madness as a phenomenon which gives men intimations of another reaility transcending the everyday world, and which reveals the possibility of more direct communication with the divine. European views of madness became gradually secularized over a period of several centuries, and were finally absorbed by the predominantly medical models of modern psychiatry. In Bali, this transformation is occurring within a much shorter time span, under different socioeconomic conditions. In this paper, I examine the ideas which traditional healers in Bali and their clients invoke about madness, and how these ideas are integrated with broader notions about health, human personality and the influence of the supernatural in worldly affairs. I then contrast traditional classifications and treatments of madness with the version of Western psychiatry currently practised in mental hospitals and out-patient clinics on the island. This section of the paper is based on the author's field study of mental health services in Bali, incorporating a survey of mental hospital inpatients and their families. I conclude with a discussion of the genesis, future development and possible effects of the increase in psychiatric facilities on the island.