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Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

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The book penned by Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down describes about cultural deviation and language barrier with respect to medical beliefs among Hmong natives who migrated to the United States. The story has exhibited the impact on conflicting cultural beliefs with reference to medical care and their interpretation towards Western medical health system (1997). This is a heartbreaking story about Hmong native couple and has a daughter named Lia who is suffering from epilepsy at an early age of 3 months old, which is regarded as a serious medical condition. Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder that affects all ages and characterized by unpredictable seizures (Epilepsy Foundation, 2014). However, in the book the disease in itself is no longer a source of urgency to Lia’s parents believe that their daughter’s soul had fled her body and become lost. In a similar vein, the disease was not …show more content…

It entails an awareness of the physical, social, spiritual and cultural needs of the patient. By so doing, it can help facilitate a more perceptive approach to the expectations of the patients. Hence, it will lead to the provision of a more culturally sensitive approach to the delivery of care. As a result, it will lead to an enhanced understanding and improved patient care. However, in the story it did not end up as expected. A tragic consequence that had a huge possibility that it could have turned out differently makes it especially so. Looking back on how old this book was written, there are several changes that are embraced within the medical arena with respect to cultural diversity. Demographic differences are now given weight as well as spirituality which is reckoned to be essential especially to the holistic approach to providing healthcare, one that embraces the mind, the body and the

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