1、 Naipaul and Colonial Psychiatry

This article introduces the growth and anti colonial story of the protagonist Ganesha in Trinidad Island in V.S. Naipaul's novel "The Paranormal Tuina". From the perspective of colonial psychiatry, this paper analyzes the connection between clinical psychiatry and imperialism, as well as the criticism of Western psychiatry by colonial psychiatry. Simultaneously explored the opposing relationship between Complementary Medicine (CAM) and Western modern medicine, as well as the value of colonial psychiatry in analyzing social progress and restoring historical truth.

2、 The formulaic madness of the people of Trinidad

Explored the phenomenon of patterned madness among the people of Trinidad in colonial psychiatry and complementary medicine. Primitiveism was used by colonizers to shape indigenous images, viewing them as part of racial and imperial discourse. At the end of the 19th century, race became a symbol of social and spiritual differences, and Western psychiatrists regarded mental illness in Trinidad as a postcolonial remnant. Colonies are seen as spaces for mental illness, while indigenous people are categorized as Trinidadian mental patients. Naipaul's novels describe the widespread phenomenon of mental illness on the island of Trinidad, with characters such as Ganesha and Lila portrayed as intellectually disabled and worthless indigenous figures. Colonial psychiatrists believe that indigenous people have low intelligence, immaturity, are easily driven by desires, and lack a sense of personal responsibility. The daily habits of indigenous people are often seen as pathological, such as Ganesha's unique note taking habit. Colonial psychiatry blurs the boundary between indigenous behavioral norms and pathologies, believing that a lack of education leads to intellectual disability among indigenous people. As a doctor, Ganesha's doubts about his own abilities reflect the marginalization and pathologization of indigenous people in colonial psychiatry.

3、 'Homeopathy' and Hector's Mental Illness

Trinidad's church medicine believes that illness is the result of God's punishment or possession by demons, leading to an increase in mental illness among indigenous people. The local Ayurvedic medical system emphasizes the importance of the connection between body and mind and the healing process. Ganesha in Naipaul's novels, as a spiritualist, caters to the collective Western imagination of local mental illnesses. In the 1950s, biomedicine emerged and the doctor-patient relationship became a central issue in medical ideology. Homeopathy, invented by Samuel Hanman of Germany, conflicts with scientific evidence and is considered an alternative or supplement to Western medicine. Ganesha used homeopathy to cure many diseases that cannot be cured by biomedical methods, affirming the connection between culture, biology, and psychology. Homeopathy follows the rules of "same type treatment" and monotherapy, deconstructing the doctor-patient relationship in biomedical science and emphasizing the initiative of patients in the treatment process. According to Trinidadian customs, practitioners of homeopathy do not require a medical license, and Ganesha used homeopathy to cure the psychological illness of patient Hector. Complementary medicine believes that excellent therapists should receive training and excel in personalized therapy. Traditional medicine in Trinidad emphasizes consultative healthcare, where physicians must establish an open, humble, and friendly environment with patients. Ganesha created a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere before treating Hector, giving nonverbal hints to the patient, encouraging him to actively describe the demon image in his hallucinations. Ganesha also played the role of a demon escaping the scene and ultimately obtaining healing effects. Ganesha successfully cured Hector's mental illness and helped him grow up healthy through this method. The most important task of colonial medicine initially was to maintain the health of the military, officials, merchants, missionaries, and colonizers, enabling them to effectively carry out colonial missions. Ganesha has rectified the relatively chaotic market order of psychiatrists in the local area and improved the professional level of the industry. Ganesha rose to fame locally, attracting almost all similar patients in Trinidad. Ganesha is portrayed as a saint who can gain power from the supernatural world, while also being humble and low-key. Ganesha is very tolerant towards the issue of treatment costs for the poor and has received high praise from everyone. The plot of using homeopathy to cure individual physiological diseases has also been described in other colonial literature.

4、 Social Physician: The Social Reform of Elephant Headed Gods

In 1977, Engel proposed the "biopsychosocial" medical model, marking the birth of the modern medical model and emphasizing the individual's biological and social survival status. At the beginning of the 20th century, social medicine regarded medicine as a systematic social biological program, emphasizing political and social justice. Porter believed that medicine is a social science, while politics is a larger scale of medicine, and the factors that affect individual health come from a larger political level. In the traditional culture of Trinidad, the identity of a homeopathic physician is flexible, and Ganesha is regarded as a social physician who can cure physical and social illnesses such as lack of education, ignorance, low status of women, economic hardship, etc. Ganesha's abnormal behavior was seen as madness in the process of curing social diseases, but in reality, he was trying to cure the physical or social illnesses of the local people and achieve political ideals. At the end of the story, Ganesha is no longer a psychopath, but a social physician or economic and cultural builder. After curing the social disease of primary education in the local area, Ganesha built a temple dedicated to the elephant head god to pray for blessings and promote local economic development and a happy life. The elephant head god symbolizes wealth, wisdom, and auspiciousness, which means improving the lives of the local people. Ganesha strives to improve social issues such as the local economy, cultural conditions, and women's social status. Ganesha enriches women's cultural knowledge and enhances their identity and cultural awareness through homeopathy, such as improving Lila's ignorant and crazy image, transforming her into a slim, elegant woman wearing a sari. Ganesha also promotes the modernization of the local economy, plans to publish newspapers and magazines to publish modernization information, hold a series of speeches, help establish taxi companies, shops, and build high-rise buildings to promote local modernization. Ganesha held lectures in the local area to promote modern knowledge, elevating individual love to national love and becoming the most popular figure in Trinidad.

5、 Conclusion

Ganesha exposed local scandals in Port of Spain, maintained his grassroots identity, rejected Western customs, and established a way of exit protest. He promoted the culture of complementary medicine through multiple identity transformations, criticized the aggressiveness of colonial medicine, and affirmed the scientific nature of colonial indigenous theories.