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Book Report On The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

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The “Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman is the story of a refugee family from Laos in the United States. The story develops over the tragic case of one of the family’s daughters named Lia, who suffers from epilepsy. The book describes the Hmong’ beliefs and medical Western practices in medicine and how it influences Lia’s life. In addition, the book relates the barriers of becoming part of a new culture, the Western perspective in medicine, and the misunderstanding between the doctors and the Hmong due to the collision of the cultures and the differences of knowledge. Through the book, it is notice how Lia’s doctors (Neil and Peggy who are the main doctors) failure to become cultural sensitive in Lia’s case. But are they …show more content…

Foua and Nao Kao had no way of knowing that Dan had diagnosed it as epilepsy, the most common of all neurological disorders. Each had accurately noted the same symptoms, but Dan would have been surprised to hear that they were caused by soul loss, and Lia's parents would have been surprised to hear that they were caused by an electrochemical storm inside their daughter's head that had been stirred up by the misfiring of aberrant brain cells” ( Fadiman 28).
The Hmong strongly believed that Lia’s seizures were related to spirits. On the other hand, the doctors believed that Lia’s seizures were a result of a malfunction of the body and the only way to cure Lia was through medications. These differences in diagnoses was an essential part in Lia’s case. Lia’s doctors tried all kind of medicines and they changed it repeatedly without having any success. Over the time, Lia’s seizures got worse and her parents refused to administer the medicines. As a result of the continuous seizures and doctors’ failures to cure Lia, she entered in vegetative …show more content…

In order to become doctors in the Western culture, they had to go to some medical school. The fact that none of the doctors had courses in “cross-cultural medicine” is a reflection of the Western system failure to teach this. Therefore, the doctors cannot be blamed for not understanding the Hmong culture because they were not taught to be culturally sensitive. Maybe if the doctors were trained to become more cultural, they could develop a proper relationship with the Lees in order to improve Lia’s health. Also, the doctors were thought to be the ones who were right because of their preparation and knowledge. This is revealed when Dan Murphy

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