The tragedy that befell Lia Lee, a Hmong child, was a result of a power struggle between the Hmong and western medicine physicians, cultural impasse, and a conflict between who knows what’s best for Lia. It was too late before cultural medical reform occurred that doctors were beginning to view the person with the symptoms rather than the symptoms a person has. The Hmong were on one end of the spectrum where they believed that problems of the soul manifested themselves in the body and so spiritual healing was the best form of treatment. On the other end, the doctors believed that health problems were strictly biological and should be treated with pharmaceuticals. The distance between these two sides is what led to multiple disagreements…
Explaining this situation as epilepsy led American doctors to prescribe Lia with heavy medication, raised concerns from her parents due to their different conception of their child’s illness (161). Under the veil of Hmong culture, Lia Lee’s parents understood her epilepsy as evidence of “soul loss,” which further implies possible benefits for a Hmong community in question if Lia should reach the coveted position of a shaman. Her parents’ understanding of her pain and suffering in a positive manner reflects upon their belief in a larger, spiritual order in which an individual’s body cannot be separated her culture. Therefore, seeking spiritual guidance in the form of “herbal remedies and services of a Hmong shaman” heavily reiterates the underlying connection between that of Lia’s condition and the spiritual beliefs that exist within Hmong culture (161). Regardless of this specific cultural and spiritual knowledge, the biomedical approach, one that the western doctors forced upon Lia despite existing language barriers, forsakes the potential to better understand how these aspects of clinical encounters influence individual cases and how to better provide care for the suffering…
Nicole Jones Folk Health Research Paper Appalachian Folk Remedies and Nursing Practices 12/2/16 Abstract Appalachian folk medicine is known as a healing method made up of beliefs and practices that are a passed down tradition through families and communities. It was developed in response to a lack of access to modern medical care and combines homemade remedies with superstition and religious beliefs. Appalachian folk medicine started from the need for health care. In pre-industrial Appalachia, doctors and modern medicine were rare and inaccessible as well as expensive, so people relied on traditional home remedies and superstitious practices to alleviate pain and to cure diseases.…
The cultural clashes amongst the people of the Hmong and Westered based society of America about health care is a clash of ideologies and ethnocentrism. A refusal to find middle ground and a general misunderstanding of each other’s cultures. Each of these culture’s healing arts, be that biomedicine of America or the traditional healings of the Hmong, are working remedies that tackle the problems faced by healers and doctors with a unique understanding of one’s culture. Through the Hmong it is a spiritual and a truly holistic understanding of the body, while the American biomedicine divides things into parts, like a car. These two systems while approaching the same field with different understandings, can have similar results.…
“Giving the culture respect and honoring that when it is appropriate, shows the patient they can trust you,” (Minority Nursing Staff, 2013). Nurses must have an understanding of the client’s culture. Understanding the client’s culture will promote culturally congruent interventions. Culturally congruent intervention for the Hmong culture regarding Hep B would consist of the use of eastern and western medicine. Eastern medicine that the Hmong culture could practice includes Shamanism, coining, cupping, herbal medicine, spooning or acupuncture (Xiong, M., et al., 2013).…
Have you ever wondered if there was a way you could heal yourself and live longer? Would you want to know if it were possible? Would you believe it’s safer than most traditional practices used by doctors? Well if you are thinking of the Holy Grail you would be wrong because Holistic Medicine, believe it or not, has been in existence for thousands of years. Ever since traditional western medicine was built up in the early 19th century people have been treated and cured from illnesses that once were considered hopeless.…
In the story about Lia Lee, her American Doctors, and her Hmong parents. American Doctors and nurses at that time thought that their methods for evaluating and resolving medical problems was the only way and they refused to see how other people from different parts of the world practice medicine and healing. The Hmong had healing methods that varied from shamanism, dermal treatments, and herbs. Each method used depended on the problem the patient was having. The American doctors had healing methods that involved doing multiple test and samples such as blood, urine, or feces samples followed by injection of chemicals, prescriptions of pills, or sometimes even surgery.…
Hi Jessica! I can relate to lack of exposure to different cultures. I have only recently been exposed to the mass variety of different cultures through classmates, teachers, and courses at Mizzou. Several of my classes have prepared me for working with individuals with different cultures. My food and culture class prepared me for accommodating individuals dietary needs and understanding body language.…
For example, knowledge within traditional practices in the “use of plant and animal species as medicinal aides” ought to be considered (citation). Western medical providers could seek out traditional healers for insights on their medicines, which could ultimately lead to broader medicinal applications of natural compounds. Plants and animals have been used for ingredients in various medicines since ancient times, and remain vital in modern medicines to this day. Coincidentally, of the 119 known plant-derived drugs utilized in Western medicine, 74% of these plants are utilized in traditional healing practices as well (citation). In addition to paving the way for potential new drug discoveries, traditional healing knowledge may also provide new approaches and lessons beneficial to public health.…
Moving to timeworn medicines? An advanced specialist's slant The untold open deliberation over the adequacy of old pharmaceutical has turned into a banality. Doctors have disagreed on the issue, every patient taking as gospel whoever's hypothesis they hear first. Over decades recuperating has advanced from a specialist illicit relationship to a specialist and patient association. For sure, patients are taken through systems prescribed for their sicknesses alongside supporting truths leaving no opportunity to baseless convictions.…
For the second essay in this course, I decided to choose the book titled "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures," by Anne Fadiman. The reason for choosing this read was my interest and fascination with the Hmong culture. I had never heard of the Hmong culture before until a couple of years ago when I wrote a research paper about sleep paralysis, in which I wrote about how the Hmong interpret their experience. Although writing about sleep paralysis was stemmed from my own experiences, it nonetheless sparked my interest in the Hmong culture and their beliefs and traditions. Anne Fadiman's book does not discuss the topic covered in my research paper.…
Heart balm is a sentiment of the heart. Applying heart balm doesn’t mean something is wrong. Heart balm is openness Openness to the idea that your heart is a source of balm Heart balm is openness to helping others survive their wars.…
As McCarthy Brown (2003) noted, healers “rarely try to compete with scientific medicine” (p.285). In fact, more often the practitioner, once he has appeased the problem with the supernatural, advises the client to consult Western biomedicine to repair the remaining damage from the Vodou spirits former wrath (Freeman, 2007, p.125). In this view Vodou is essentially enlisted to combat the cause and biomedicine to combat the symptoms. Although, as Freeman (2007) notes “in practice, real collaboration has been limited to working with midwives, injectionists and faith and herb healers, with in a few cases strictly voodoo practitioners called in for certain psychotherapeutic counseling”…
alternate extremes are vague from each other, and that they are every one of the piece of the same thing. Figure 3: Symbolism of Lord Shiva (Viewed on 7th December 2015https://twitter.com/healthsite4u/status/438972025474785280) 3.3.3 TECHINICAL PERSPECTIVE The Aghori try to free themselves from the cycle of resurrection by understanding their own place inside of the supreme. They trust that they are a piece of Shiva, and at last wish to rise above from their body, or shava, to an incarnation of Shiva himself. To do this, they must get to be unconcerned with everything.…
Massage therapy is defined as a system of palpitation and movement of soft tissues of the body. The massage system consists of a variation of gliding, stretching, stoking, and kneading of a specific area of the body. Although messages are not used to diagnose an illness, it is alternatively used to promote the well-being of an individual. Massage therapy is a safe and effective way to reduce pain in both adults and children. It is also an ideal way to balance the body’s internal and external functions by allowing the mind, body, and soul to collectively work in conjunction with each other.…