In her brilliant and award-winning book, The Spirit Catches You & You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman skillfully demonstrates the cultural clash between a small county hospital in California, and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with sever epilepsy. Both Lia’s parents, as well as the doctors present, wanted what was best for her. However, the lack of understanding between them led to a tragedy. Fadiman did an outstanding job at demonstrating that cultural understanding is essential but lacking in the modern biomedical system. She successfully illustrated the way hospital bureaucracy often detracts from the desired end results of helping patients get well according to their definitions as well. Treatments …show more content…
She presents her insights of the Hmong culture and their reaction and understanding of epilepsy, which greatly differs from the standpoint of modern biomedicine. Her book truly is a bittersweet account that demonstrates how the seemingly perfect model of western medicine sometimes fails at caring for those who encompass significantly different cultural medical convictions. A vital aspect to understand about Lia and her family is that they were Hmong. Fadiman skillfully interlaced Lia’s story with the history of the Hmong. A great deal of emphasis was directed to whom the Hmong were. They are an ethnic group from China and Laos. They were displaced as a consequence to the disastrous conflict in Southeast Asia that paralleled the Vietnamese War. They are a shamanistic society that believed in evil spirits, called dabs, which inhabit this world, causing mischief and …show more content…
Lia's illness put her between two extremes: the rationalism of "the culture of biomedicine" (p. 261) and the profound spiritualism that floods every aspect of the Hmong culture. Even without the language barrier, there is very little ground of understanding between these two cultures. Each side is "unfathomable" to the other. The doctors cannot understand why Lia's parents would refuse to cooperate, and the Lees are baffled by almost everything about the doctors. Lia's case can only confirm "the Hmong community's worst prejudices about the medical profession and the medical community's worst prejudices about the Hmong" (p.253). Neither was able to acknowledge the reality of the other, and neither can recognize its own blind
Many of the Hmong (including the Lee family) immigrated from their Thai refugee camp to America in the late seventies. The book is mainly about the Hmong culture and healing beliefs colliding with “modern” American medicine. The Lees want to heal Lia spiritually with a Txiv neeb (spiritual healer), and don’t really want to use and medicine provided by their doctors. At the beginning of the book Fadiman explains why the Hmong prefer a Txiv neeb over a doctor. She writes, “Txiv neebs were polite and never needed to ask questions; doctors asked many rude and intimate questions...
In Anne Fadiman’s, A Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, there’s a conflicting battle going on between cultures. While it might never be specifically stated, Anne Fadiman attempts to convey a neutral understanding to her readers of the Hmong beliefs and culture alongside of the culture of biomedicine western society is mostly familiar with. While the Hmong beliefs and practices in medicine are taboo to western society, readers gradually see that Hmong medicine is just as equal or more powerful than biomedicine that we’re so familiar with. It’s an important concept to understand in this book is that the doctors are there to treat Lia’s disease, not precisely concerned with Lia as a person. Hmong medicine seems to be more related to in helping
“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.
As Fadiman wrote, “Doctors on the late shift in the emergency room had no way of taking a patient’s medical history, or of asking such questions as Where do you hurt?” (25). The fact that Lia’s parents could not understand English contributed to her not getting better since the doctors assumed that they would give her the medications as prescribed which they did not. A quote of Fadiman that says it all, “Over time, her drug regime became so complicated and underwent so many revisions that keeping track of it would have been a monumental task for a family that could read English. For the Lees, it proved to be utterly confounding” (45).
A young Hmong man presents a five-minute oral report in French. The topic he chose was a recipe for la soupe de possion: Fish Soup. He extensively detailed the whole ordeal in a ‘in order to, you must ‘manner. His complex example of something simple extended to forty-five minutes long oral report. The ending results of his presentation left the classroom black board with factors, options and a flowchart written in French with Hmong.
Rather than presenting the reader with Lia’s medical history and condition right at the beginning, Fadiman retraces her steps, like the Hmong presenter, by starting with the birth of Lia. The first sentence states, “If
Have you ever thought about how difficult it might be to go into a different country knowing absolutely nothing, not even language, and something horrific happened to you or anyone in your family? Don’t you think you would feel so powerless, so helpless, so clueless? This happens commonly and it has never had any attention brought to it, at least not until 1998. Anne Fadiman wrote a book entitled, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. This demonstrated a collision of two complete opposite cultures, but they both have the same goal to help the child get better.
The Hmong and their religious customs was a central theme in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. With the clash of ethnocentrism between both cultures, it was often debated what was “best” for Lia. Hmong taboo against blood tests, spinal taps, surgery, anesthesia, and many other medical tests and procedures. The Hmong were appalled at the numerous personal questions that American doctors asked to try and diagnose the problem. These tests, being apart of my culture, are considered normal and very helpful in discovering if there is a possible life threatening medical condition. In their culture, txiv neebs were polite and provide an immediate diagnosis without asking personal questions or performing tests.
The Vietnam war of 1955-1975 had an immense effect on the Hmong population in Laos. Traditional Western medicine is commonly held as the gold standard of medical care worldwide, while in recent days, the Western approach is attempting to gradually recognize the values of alternative medicine used in diverse cultures/populations. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (2012), is a prime example of the clash of two cultures and two opposite medicinal approaches. This paper discusses the humanistic perspective in clinical/medical social work and the systems theory in macro/administrative social work. Based on the humanistic perspective, a micro analysis is conducted on the main character of the book (Lia Lee).
Puerto Rican Culture Religion, culture, beliefs, and ethnic customs can influence how patients understand health concepts, how they take care of their health, and how they make decisions related to their health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2015). As a nurse, it is important to understand that not every patient shares the same healthcare beliefs. A nurse must be able to perform his or her duties without judgement and care for each patient with respect for their own unique set of beliefs and morals. In this paper, the Puerto Rican culture will be discussed, from family units to religious and cultural beliefs, as well as how Western Medicine fits into their healthcare. Explain the culture.
Within the Hmong culture there is great emphasis on symmetry, balance, and complementary sections in bodies, society, and cosmos. Additionally, the soul must be kept in balance to maintain good health; sadly, the soul of Lia was not kept in good health which lead to severe, poorly-treated epilepsy. The medical mistakes and lack of precise communication ultimately lead to an untimely death of Lia; however, between both parties dealing with Lia’s epilepsy, the severity of her illness could have been prevented if both parties took Eliade’s perspective on sacred space into account during treatment. Sacred space, in terms of Eliade’s perspective, is one of the most critical, cherished topics that defines his paradigmatic model for religion. The
Anne Fadiman, author of the book, ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” reveals the negative effects of no cross-cultural communication in the medical profession. Lia Lee and her family had no previous experiences in an American hospital, America no less. This proved to be difficult, leading both sides (Hmong family and doctors) to misinterpret what both are doing and saying. This book summary summarized the book, the qualifications of the sources used, and critiques the book as a whole.
Makenzie Griffith EDSE 460 Denise Hitchcock 1 March 2018 Midterm: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down It is a story about a family who shows so much loyalty to their traditions and cultures, but it clashes with the strict American “norm” and creates conflict for their most prized possession, their daughter. Young Lia’s health is at risk when the doctors are trying to treat her epilepsy, but the culture barrier between them and her parents put her at risk. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua Lee believe that their ancient traditions and healing is what Lia needs in order to get better, but Lia’s doctors prescribe her with many prescriptions to help with the seizures and her parent’s inability to read or speak English to communicate
Ward said "If the curing ceremonies had accomplished only an acceptance of death and the loving care of his family, they were worth it" (Ward, 93). Ward came to Pohnpei to "promote the idea of blood pressure and heart disease and sicknesses that cannot be seen" (91), and the reason I view this as cultural relativism is because Ward believed in modern medicine and that it could help and treat the people of Pohnpei, but when it came down to the wishes of her friend she put her personal opinion aside and supported his decision. She realized that just because she believed he should stay near the hospital and take modern medicine doesn't mean that he felt the same
Therefore, the following will be a discussion of several cultural issues and situations from the movie that caused me to have personal reactions and that can be applied to clinical settings. The first major diversity issue was between the main character