Week 8_Julia Wells_Section 4

            In Shana’s article, the first thought that came to my head was “yes, I feel the same way” or “this sounds accurate.” I feel like people from the West have become so close-minded to other options besides scientific evidence. People from the west reject anything that cannot be proven by data or visual evidence. Such abstract constructs such as spirits, ghosts, other beings, and spiritual healing are looked down upon and not researched in the United States. Like Shana and Professor Valverde said, these types of people are looked at as crazy. People with mental illnesses are looked at as abnormal and unstable. We label them as people who need help and cannot contribute to society anymore in a functional manner. How Shana used the term “normal” so often was a little troubling at first because normal is the broadest term someone could use. Normal is a generic word that matches an ideal situation that favors the majority. Shana uses the word in quotes but keeps using it to make a point that people with mental illnesses are forced to revert their mental state back like everyone else by taking drugs. Like Professor Valverde says, some might look at people with mental illnesses and say that they have a gift. Western pathology must look and think outside-the-box as to why other cultures view these diseases in a special way and not in a broken way.  Although this does not involve mental illnesses in humans, I know a successful veterinarian specializing in rehabilitation, and she uses unique, and new methods where she is integrating all kinds of medicine to help and heal injured animals. She performs yoga, massages, acupuncture, or light exercise in a pool, on a mat, or on the treadmill. She uses all kinds of methods which gives positive results. If veterinarian medicine is very slowly adapting to new ideas, then can human medicine do the same thing with mental illnesses?

References: Siddique, A. (2013, June 05). Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis May Soon Include MRI Brain Scan Test. Retrieved from https://www.medicaldaily.com/bipolar-disorder-diagnosis-may-soon-include-mri-brain-scan-test-246553

Haydock, S. B. fucked up. I would always rather be abnormal than holistic: Micro Essays. DSM: Asian American Edition.