The Psychobiology of Trance

In place of our usual overview, in this issue we include two papers describing a detailed study of the drum and dance induced trances of participants in the Thaipusam festival, in Kuala Lumpur in 1984. This study developed out of a conference entitled "Shamans and Endorphins" held in Montreal in October 1980 (see TPRR, 21(1984) :119- 122 for a review of the proceedings). Although field conditions pre vented adequate exploration of the hypothesis that endorphins are involved in the analgesia observed during Thaipusam trances, it was felt that the findings are of sufficient interest to warrant publication here. It is hoped that the view presented, namely that drum and dance induced trances represent a specific mode of functioning of the central nervous system, will stimulate further empirical studies of the biology of trance.

Raymond Prince and the R. M. Bucke memorial society for the study of religious experience

The study of the relationship between psychiatry and religion has become an issue of increasing importance for both research and clinical practice. This article presents the history of the R. M. Bucke Memorial Society for the Study of Religious Experience, established by Raymond Prince in Montréal in 1964 as one of the first scientific societies whose aim was to investigate those characteristics of religious experience of interest to psychiatry. It also describes some of Prince's own studies on religious experience.

Masters of their conditions: at the crossroads of health, culture and performance

Achieving one's cultural or clinical identity is a matter of performance. The performing body is made through a series of apprenticeships that lead to mastery and then transmission. Performance, like culture and medicine, has its systems of learning, i.e. in the professions of the performing arts. This article examines the methodology of theater anthropology and other aspects of performance studies. Applications to intercultural work are described that make it possible for patient and healer to collaborate to master the condition.