Week 6 - Leigh Bagood

Leigh Bagood
Section 2
Week 6

Ethan Watters talks about one overlooked effect of American-led globalization, which is the Americanization of mental health and illness. This interested me because it made me realize ways in which I have internalized Western thought on mental illness without realizing and considering cultural factors. I can attribute some of my views on human nature to Western influence. Because knowledge of mental illness is strongly presented through Western, scientific perspectives in America and the West is seen as a potent global influence, it’s easy to disregard cultural biases. I think this can easily lead to cultural ignorance when it comes to treating mental illnesses and even when it comes to approaching mental health in general. Especially since American culture is especially individualistic, we tend to reduce mental health to chemical complications in the brain and not consider the effects of environmental factors. This is not a school of thought that can be applied to all cultures. One interesting thing brought up by Watters is how the exportation of Western knowledge of mental health not only leads to changes in treatments, but also in the expression of mental illness in other cultures. This is something that needs to be discussed if we want to avoid obscuring the complexity of mental health. I also found it interesting when Watters mentioned how the “brain disease” belief, which is meant to reduce stigma, can actually increase it. It makes sense considering the “brain disease” belief implies that humans do not have control over their mental illness, which can easily create isolation as people around them inadvertently develop either a helplessness for assisting/supporting them, or can cause close family members and friends to have a high level of expressed emotion that can deter the treatment of a patient. I don’t think Watters intends to discredit the Western study of mental illness, but rather encourage a consciousness of the lack of cultural neutrality of these Western ideas, as narrow conceptions can have negative consequences.

Question: At the end of his article, Watters argues that “When we undermine local conceptions of the self and modes of healing, we may be speeding along the disorienting changes that are at the very heart of much of the world’s mental distress.” What are ways we can mitigate the effects of the Americanization of mental illness so that mental health is approached more accurately through the consideration of cultural factors?

References:

1. Watts, Ethan (2010, January 10). The Americanization of Mental Illness. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
2. [Digital image]. (2010, January 12). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://media.npr.org/assets/artslife/books/2010/01/crazylikeus_wide-8f70226ee2a76f78016fcae60bbd0d3ad2549f2e.jpg?s=1400