Soc Sci Med. 1988 ; 27(8): 761-8.

The interplay of traditional therapies in south Thailand.

Golomb L.

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Discernible among the diversity of folk-medical practitioners of Songkhla, Thailand, are three prominent therapeutic traditions: those of the herbalists, folk psychotherapists, and supernaturalists. Most curers describe themselves as specialists in one or another of these modes, but at the same time, many also recognize multiple levels of causation and multi-modal treatment alternatives for any specific affliction. Accordingly, they liberally apply their own therapeutic orientation to afflictions ordinarily diagnosed as calling for treatment in modes other than their own. To treat afflictions normally outside their own domain, they call on metaphorical principles to render their traditional techniques and paraphernalia applicable to a greater variety of illnesses. In this way they strive to attract a wider variety of clientele in the increasingly competitive environment created by the expansion of modern medical facilities. An analysis of this system contributes to our understanding of therapeutic pluralism in these times of rapid culture change.