Psychiatrist in Paradise (PB) | By Thong Denny (Author) | White Lotus

Psychiatrist in Paradise (PB) | By Thong Denny (Author) | White Lotus

The book tells the story of a most remarkable attempt by an Indonesian doctor trained in Western medicine, and in charge of a western-style hospital in Bali, Indonesia, to use traditional healing practices in the treatment of mental illness. Bali, idealized by many as the archetypal island paradise, has its fair share of mental illness and, within its traditional culture, has developed ways of dealing with such illness that are significantly different from those traditionally espoused by Western medicine, but which are now beginning to gain support in the West.

For nearly two decades Dr. Denny Thong strove to integrate modern (Western) health care systems with Balinese customs, decentralizing treatment to the villages, reorganizing the hospital to become a focal point of the community and, most controversially, utilizing the services of traditional healers. Dr. Thong closely studied the ways in which the traditional healers worked, and his survey of them and his descriptions and analyses of their procedures add immeasurably to our knowledge of the subject.