In Mudpacks and Prozac and The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan, both Murphy Halliburton and Ethan Watters suggest that there are complex reasons why people may not immediately seek biomedical cures when they are experiencing mental distress. Both Halliburton and Watters describe different cultural, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical factors that influence the decisions that people make in regard to using alternative therapies of healing other than biomedicine when addressing mental disease.
There are many factors that can affect these decisions when it comes to choosing the type of approach an individual wants to take with overcoming an illness. In Halliburton’s book, people seeking psychiatric healing in Kerala choose from an array of …show more content…
Some people in Kerala make these decisions based on custom and tradition, which can in many situations be the only way of healing that they were ever exposed to throughout their lives. In one case, Halliburton talked about a young girl by the name of Sreedevi’s with mental issues. Based on common instinct within their culture, Sreevdevi’s mother initially took her to a temple to see a swami when her illness started and from there they were advised to participate in a number of rituals to continue her healing (Halliburton 100-101). It is common in India for a person dealing with mental illness to choose another non-biomedical therapy if one happens to not be working for them. Many choose allopathic therapy, along with its side-effects and more abrasive procedures because they heard it gives quick results just like many in western society believe biomedicine will do for them. Societal expectation of getting over mental disease is tough, in which many feel pressured to return to work or school or they feel hurried for other reasons, and the speed of allopathy accommodates these …show more content…
This is one way that sociopolitical changes around the globe may be limiting the ways in which people seek and experience biomedical health care. False advertisement, dishonesty, and the scientific invalidity of SSRIs curing mental illness has caused many people to look into healing techniques outside of the biomedical field. For example, it is advertised that the depletion of serotonin is the root cause of depression and that SSRIs reestablish the “balance” of the “natural” chemicals in the brain. However, later studies have shown that no lower levels of serotonin or “imbalance” of the neurotransmitter have been demonstrated in depressed patients (Watters 234-235). In the scientific and public discussion surrounding these drugs, it is also usually only the published results that influence opinion to use these drugs and negative results almost never see print (Watters 238). Only one in ten test subjects show a positive response that can be attributed to the effect of SSRI. This low level of effectiveness, the distortion of data and underreported data has played a role in many Japanese who have been subject to mega-marketing campaign promoting
There are many factors that can affect these decisions when it comes to choosing the type of approach an individual wants to take with overcoming an illness. In Halliburton’s book, people seeking psychiatric healing in Kerala choose from an array of …show more content…
Some people in Kerala make these decisions based on custom and tradition, which can in many situations be the only way of healing that they were ever exposed to throughout their lives. In one case, Halliburton talked about a young girl by the name of Sreedevi’s with mental issues. Based on common instinct within their culture, Sreevdevi’s mother initially took her to a temple to see a swami when her illness started and from there they were advised to participate in a number of rituals to continue her healing (Halliburton 100-101). It is common in India for a person dealing with mental illness to choose another non-biomedical therapy if one happens to not be working for them. Many choose allopathic therapy, along with its side-effects and more abrasive procedures because they heard it gives quick results just like many in western society believe biomedicine will do for them. Societal expectation of getting over mental disease is tough, in which many feel pressured to return to work or school or they feel hurried for other reasons, and the speed of allopathy accommodates these …show more content…
This is one way that sociopolitical changes around the globe may be limiting the ways in which people seek and experience biomedical health care. False advertisement, dishonesty, and the scientific invalidity of SSRIs curing mental illness has caused many people to look into healing techniques outside of the biomedical field. For example, it is advertised that the depletion of serotonin is the root cause of depression and that SSRIs reestablish the “balance” of the “natural” chemicals in the brain. However, later studies have shown that no lower levels of serotonin or “imbalance” of the neurotransmitter have been demonstrated in depressed patients (Watters 234-235). In the scientific and public discussion surrounding these drugs, it is also usually only the published results that influence opinion to use these drugs and negative results almost never see print (Watters 238). Only one in ten test subjects show a positive response that can be attributed to the effect of SSRI. This low level of effectiveness, the distortion of data and underreported data has played a role in many Japanese who have been subject to mega-marketing campaign promoting