thus the villagers are no longer concerned about it. In contrast
to the winjan、however, the khwan can leave man at any time throughout
his life. There are reasons for this to happen, and there are unavoidable
consequences resulting from its departure.
The khwan is closely tied to man’s well being, his mental condition,
strength, will to live and vital power. In Western terms this is
the subject realm of psychology.
The khwan, or “ state of mind,” is very easily affected by pregnancy
and childbirth, and this is the object of much attention in the village.
There is a special khwan rite for pregnant women, the Suu Khwan
Maemarn,which means calling the khwan of the pregnant woman.
The declared purpose of Suu Khwan Maemarn is to give the
mother strength and enable an easy delivery. This is clearly to be
understood as “ to give her just that peace of mind which is of importance
for ensuring that everything will go well.” If the woman
is well psychologically, she will also feel better physically.
The Suu Khwan Maemarn functions in the village partly to prevent
a state of mental unbalance from arising, and partly to treat such conditions
should they have arisen. The mode of practice surrounding
the Suu Khwan Maemarn in this village is such that what we have could
be called a well developed system for the treatment of minor psychological
ailments. This ceremony contains elements which are clearly comparable
to what in the Western part of the world is called psychotherapy.
It is better suited to the village environment than anything we could
achieve in the West, faced with parallel groups of citizens. In professional
discussions in the West it is often illustrated that most of our
psychological forms of therapy are best suited to people who are relatively
well educated, and socially not members of the lower layers of
the community. In tms northeastern Thai village this ceremony
reaches the humblest groups of the society.
To continue the discussion in psychological terminology,treatment
in the village may well be directed towards an individual person, but
the form of treatment is not western “ individual therapy•” Treatment
draws in the family, relatives and often friends. The social surroundings
of the person are used as support. It is in this way in perfect
agreement with what we in the West today consider most essential to
an effective result of psychotherapy. One is tempted to say that the
villagers have for generations practiced what we are only now approaching
in theory, but are still almost incapable of accomplishing in practice.
Tambiah (1970) is the only 1 hailand researcher who mentions
Suu Khwan Maemarn. His descriptions originate from the same