Description and Analysis
The Philippines have 7,000 islands total (it is an archipelago) and consists of regions with different dialects. Many beliefs and traditions are similar to Spanish ancestors since the Philippines were colonized by the Spaniards for 300 years. Despite the Western influences like buildings, food, medicine, music, and fashion, some provinces like the Negro Occidental still practice some traditional healing methods due to their cultural beliefs and lack of access to Western medicine (due to no health insurance, poverty, or lack of financial help or too far from a clinic or hospital).
From a young age, Mrs. Suzette De Jesus was raised in a rural area (farm) “Malingin”, which is 15 miles on a rugged dirt road to the closest …show more content…
The healer placed a sign of a cross to Suzette’s forehead and talked to the dead relatives (kind of imaginary entity) to leave her alone. The cultural healer helps to “protect” the body and uses supernatural treatments with herbal medicines, incantations, and offerings (McBride, n.d.). Talking to Suzette’s dead relatives could be the incantation and the ginger is the herbal/medicinal treatment to heal her illness. According to McBride (n.d.), the hilot is a type of ancient tribal priestess and is respectful of the value of medical care. The healer’s diagnosis of the fever/flu was that she got sick because of her departed grandmother was thinking of Suzette and she needed to pray for her soul which Suzette and her mother did. In Filipino culture, elders and family is highly valued and respected. The elders are the ones who have the most experience and wisdom and so in Filipino culture they are to be valued and highly respected. Filipino families are also very tight nit and they also take care of their parents at home. The strong Filipino values and respect towards elders could be the reasoning behind the healer’s diagnosis of Suzette. The explanatory model for the healer’s diagnosis could be mystical it that the cause of the …show more content…
The unfulfilled obligation could have been the lack of prayer and hence the fever and flu that occurred. In addition to the healer’s method/treatments, when Suzette’s family moved to the city, they had clinics and hospitals more available and would use medicine such as Aspirin to treat fevers in addition to cough medicine. One of Suzette’s cousins also experienced a period of depression. Her cousin’s depression did not become evident until her cousin tried to commit suicide. When her family discovered the situation her cousin was in, the family relied on faith healing and prayer for treatment. The family believed that an evil spirit came into Suzette’s cousin and so the family relied on a cross for protection that the cousin had to wear. Because they also lived in a rural area, the family did not seek on Western medicine for help. The family of the cousin was very religious and believed that prayer and faith would help Suzette’s cousin overcome his depressive state. The explanatory model of the illness (depression) would be viewed as personalistic because of the view that the illness is caused by an evil spirit (McBride, n.d.). In Filipino culture, people are rather
The Philippines have 7,000 islands total (it is an archipelago) and consists of regions with different dialects. Many beliefs and traditions are similar to Spanish ancestors since the Philippines were colonized by the Spaniards for 300 years. Despite the Western influences like buildings, food, medicine, music, and fashion, some provinces like the Negro Occidental still practice some traditional healing methods due to their cultural beliefs and lack of access to Western medicine (due to no health insurance, poverty, or lack of financial help or too far from a clinic or hospital).
From a young age, Mrs. Suzette De Jesus was raised in a rural area (farm) “Malingin”, which is 15 miles on a rugged dirt road to the closest …show more content…
The healer placed a sign of a cross to Suzette’s forehead and talked to the dead relatives (kind of imaginary entity) to leave her alone. The cultural healer helps to “protect” the body and uses supernatural treatments with herbal medicines, incantations, and offerings (McBride, n.d.). Talking to Suzette’s dead relatives could be the incantation and the ginger is the herbal/medicinal treatment to heal her illness. According to McBride (n.d.), the hilot is a type of ancient tribal priestess and is respectful of the value of medical care. The healer’s diagnosis of the fever/flu was that she got sick because of her departed grandmother was thinking of Suzette and she needed to pray for her soul which Suzette and her mother did. In Filipino culture, elders and family is highly valued and respected. The elders are the ones who have the most experience and wisdom and so in Filipino culture they are to be valued and highly respected. Filipino families are also very tight nit and they also take care of their parents at home. The strong Filipino values and respect towards elders could be the reasoning behind the healer’s diagnosis of Suzette. The explanatory model for the healer’s diagnosis could be mystical it that the cause of the …show more content…
The unfulfilled obligation could have been the lack of prayer and hence the fever and flu that occurred. In addition to the healer’s method/treatments, when Suzette’s family moved to the city, they had clinics and hospitals more available and would use medicine such as Aspirin to treat fevers in addition to cough medicine. One of Suzette’s cousins also experienced a period of depression. Her cousin’s depression did not become evident until her cousin tried to commit suicide. When her family discovered the situation her cousin was in, the family relied on faith healing and prayer for treatment. The family believed that an evil spirit came into Suzette’s cousin and so the family relied on a cross for protection that the cousin had to wear. Because they also lived in a rural area, the family did not seek on Western medicine for help. The family of the cousin was very religious and believed that prayer and faith would help Suzette’s cousin overcome his depressive state. The explanatory model of the illness (depression) would be viewed as personalistic because of the view that the illness is caused by an evil spirit (McBride, n.d.). In Filipino culture, people are rather