Differences Between The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Ann Fadiman

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

3. Give specific examples of how health care professionals did not value or respond effectively to any of the Hmong values/beliefs you have listed in the questions above. What was the outcome of that cultural insensitivity.

The author was trying to show how the difference between two cultures can influence in health care. The author showed how the difference between illness and disease also affects the forms of treatment. It is important to recognize the patient’s cultural beliefs because this may help us to recognize how effective the given treatment can be and in what ways we can enhance the treatment without sacrificing the patient’s cultural beliefs. The author also showed how both the parents and the doctors care about Lia but what they thought was best for Lia varied. The doctors thought that the parents were harming the treatment by not being compliant and the parents thought that the doctors were hurting Lia by giving her so much medicine.

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman introduces the reader to the Hmong culture and to the Lee’s family experience with western medicine. Throughout the book it talks of the past interactions of the Hmong and Americans, showing reasoning why the Hmong already mistrust Americans and western medicine.

“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.

Ethnomedicine has been historically defined as any healthcare system not present in the West; now, ethnomedicine is defined as the any cultural beliefs which surround healing in a community. The Hmong—an ethnic group located within present day Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand—have a particular system of ethnomedicine which is described as personalistic. Within a personalistic system, an active agent is the underlying cause of a disease—or etiology. Humans can be the cause of the disease as well as a number of non-human and supernatural agents. When Lia Lee began seizing at three months of age, her parents understood that the active agent which caused her epilepsy was a door slamming which caused her soul to fly from her body, an illness called quag

Dr. Galanti provides insight into the relationship between cultural diversity and heath care providers. Dr. Galanti’s briefly states the difference between “stereotype and generalization”. The author recognizes that generalization may be a key factor used by workers in the health care community to bring awareness and a better understanding of cultural differences among patients. The article explains that although cultures differ in values, traditions, and beliefs, there are questions (the 4’C’s of culture) that may open up the line of communication, between provider and

The patient-doctor relationship recognizes transference affects as a bi-directional relationship which affects the way a health care provider treats a patient and the way the patient responds to treatment (Zinn, 1990). Fadiman’s book examines different problems in the culture of American medicine by highlighting a tragedy centered around a Hmong immigrant family and their sick child, Lia, in California (Fadiman, 2012). The story also highlights some important lessons to be learned by the American health care system to avoid future incidents like described by Fadiman and to ultimately apply cultural competency in public health (Fadiman, 2012).

How did you notice culture impacting the health and illness course of Lia Lee and her family in these beginning chapters?

‘The spirit catches you and you fall down’ was published in 2012 by essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman. This introductory book review analyzes the way in which different cultures perceive illnesses and diseases. It focuses on the story of the Lees a Hmong family, who moved to the United States and experiences difficulties with language, culture and biomedicine method of healing, which contradict to Hmong’s way of healing. The chapters describe the differences between the ways childbirth is conducted in Hmong society compared to the western society. As well as the struggle the Lees family has with the cultural differences in diagnoses and treatment of their ill daughter. This methodology used in Anne Fadiman book involves real life events being

The popularized concept that Native American people have a “mystical” spirituality and live in harmony with nature is yet another taboo myth. Native Americans do believe in living in  harmony with all elements as well as balance and harmony of spirit, mind, body and the environment. This belief also provides the Native American culture with a holistic approach to medicine. Health issues and solutions are typically seen as spiritually based and cared for without western medical interventions. This cultural custom directly affects treatment and how long an individual goes before being treated by a speech pathologist or audiologist. Knowing that health issues are usually cared for spiritually first it would be appropriate for the clinician to

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down opened my eyes to a new perspective of embracing cultural diversity as I compared the Hmong culture to my own. In today’s society, everyone has that sense of ethnocentrism. Most of society takes for granted how blessed they are. For example, my culture typically lives in nice neighborhoods and areas that are not primarily secluded. We take pride in the houses we build and the amenities in them, such as toilets and refrigerators. We are able to decide what career field we want to pursue, and are able to work up in the social rankings despite our class upon birth. The Hmong culture, on the other hand; are accustomed to living in the mountains and all have the same occupation: farming. As stated in the book, the Hmong were unfamiliar with toilets. Their toilets were the dirt floor of their home. For me, that was an eye opener.

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down, Anne Fadiman reflected on ways in which cultural dissonance can have detrimental consequences for those who are caught in the midst of two cultures. In this influential story, the cultural and language barriers between Lia Lee’s family and her doctors caused Lia’s life to be negatively impacted due to improper diagnosis and treatment. The Lees preferred traditional and spiritual treatment that clearly differed from the doctors’ Westernized treatment. Through a constant battle between proper treatment and the Lee parent’s compliance, this caused Lia to live in a persistent vegetative state for the majority of her life.

The world is a diverse population, with people coming from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A person’s views, values, and traditions determine their daily needs and practices. So, healthcare providers face certain challenges and restrictions because a patient’s belief may inhibit professionals from providing the most effective care. Therefore, cultural competence is an important idea for healthcare providers to consider when understanding and respecting patients. Balcazar, Suarez-Balcazar, and Taylor-Ritzler (2009) noted in “Cultural competence: Development of a conceptual framework” that cultural competence is difficult to define and measure, but it can be demonstrated by adjusting healthcare practices and interventions in order to

Providing culturally competent healthcare is an important part in today's diverse population. The increasing demands placed on caregivers are intended to increase quality of care, retain new customers from minority ethnic groups and increase overall satisfaction. This paper will describe the components of culturally comprehensive care and nursing diagnoses with examples of individuals of Asian descent. “Asian” is a broad term, that respectfully include people from many countries and nations. For the purpose of this paper this cohort is considered as one group.