Week 6 - Anika Troeger - A03

Anika Troeger

ASA 002

Section 3

Week 6: Pathologizing of Asian Americans and the Americanization of Mental Illness and Other

Harms to Humans

In “The Americanization of Mental Illness”, I found that Ethan Watters makes an interesting point - the Western view of mental illness can have a strong, and possibly negative effect on mental health in other countries. Western views on mental illness are seen as the “correct” view towards mental health. That is, mental illnesses are a result of abnormalities in the brain, chemical imbalances, brain disease, or genetic/inherited factors. Many believe in this definition of mental illness, and it would be incorrect to call it false due to scientific evidence. However, it would also be incorrect to discredit other cultures’ ways to treat mental illness. Who has the right to say which culture is correct or incorrect? As stated in the article, countries with the “best” technologies have patients who are “the most troubled and socially marginalized”,  while countries with less technology and scientific resources have patients who are better off on average.

One of the reasons why Western countries have worse outcomes might be due to Western beliefs about a person’s sense of self. Westerners believe that a person’s sense of self comes from the brain, and when this brain is considered to be damaged, wouldn’t that person be theoretically “damaged”? Westerners also believe that they have control of their own circumstances and are not affected by outside influences, and may be unintentionally blaming their illnesses on the person and not the circumstance. People with mental illness are also shunned in today’s Western society. Homeless people who are shouting in distress are ignored by a majority of the populace and people with severe mental illnesses are locked up in facilities for most of their lives. In other countries, people with mental illnesses are still welcomed into society, as other cultures believe that they are more prone to outside influence and are less likely to blame the person directly.

Other cultures have solutions for mental illnesses, and even though their solutions are not supported by our research, they are still known to work and should not be discredited. Western society should be more open to other possible solutions for our problems, as they have proven to be more effective than ours at times, and all cultures should be respected.

Question: What are ways to alleviate mental illnesses in other countries?

References:

1. Watters, E. (2010). The Americanization of Mental Illness. The New York Times.
2. Davis, J. (2015). The Shamanic View of Mental Health. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from http://upliftconnect.com/shamanic-view-of-mental-health/