Behavioural perspectives on a Sri Lankan healing ritual

Area of Science:

• Medical Anthropology
• Cross-cultural Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Diverse academic disciplines offer varied perspectives on cross-cultural illness and healing.
• A behavioral perspective provides a framework for understanding healing rituals, though it presents theoretical challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the utility of a behavioral perspective in analyzing cross-cultural healing practices.
• To examine the Sanni Demon ritual of Sinhalese Buddhists as a case study.
• To discuss the implications for universalistic concepts of normality and abnormality.

Main Methods:

• Review of cross-cultural approaches to illness and healing.
• Theoretical outline of a behavioral perspective.
• Application of the behavioral perspective to the Sanni Demon ritual.

Main Results:

• The Sanni Demon ritual, used for demonic possession, can be interpreted as a behavioral treatment.
• Anthropological and psychoanalytic analyses, while valuable, are complemented by a behavioral interpretation.
• The ritual's function challenges simplistic, universalistic notions of mental health and illness.

Conclusions:

• A behavioral lens offers unique insights into cross-cultural healing rituals.
• Rituals like the Sanni Demon ceremony demonstrate culturally specific yet behaviorally therapeutic practices.
• Rethinking universalistic standards of normal and abnormal is necessary when examining diverse healing traditions.