Skill and Trust: The Tovil Healing Ritual of Sri Lanka As Culture-Specific Psychotherapy (Sri Lanka Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences) (English, Tamil and German Edition)

Tovil is an indigenous healing ritual among the Sinfiala of Sri Lanka. It is a treatment for mental illness. During the ritual, which takes place at night, the patient embodies the demons who are the cause of his or her psychic problems. The ritual is a psychodrama, accompanied and induced by drumming, dancing and singing. The emphasis of this study is not on the patient but on the healer.