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

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In “The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down,” Anne Fadiman provides us with her book about two different cultural worlds and how they collide.
1. Quag Dab Peg in Hmong culture is caused by a bad spirit (dab’s). Hmong’s believe dab’s steal souls and cause sick illnesses. On the other hand, Epilepsy is referred to as a neurological condition. Are they the same thing? In my opinion, I do not believe Quag Dab Peg and Epilepsy are the “same.” For example, Quag Dab Peg would be treated by a (Txiv neeb) or a shaman. Hmong’s believe the human body is a host of number of souls. In Lia’s case a “soul-calling ritual,” takes place in order to restore life into her soul. As for Epilepsy, would be treated by a doctor and different medications would …show more content…

“During the mid-eighties, the Nationalities Service of Central California in Fresno received a short-term federal grant of $100,965 to establish what it termed ‘an integrated mental health delivery service utilizing Hmong healers and western health providers (269).’” Which resulted in treating 250 patients with mental health problems. It also provided Hmong’s 8 Txiv neebs and 18 healing ceremonies. In addition, the Merced County Health Department developed a cross-cultural education program named; “Bridging the Gap.” This program trains nurses with interpreting and advocacy skills. As well as “cultural competence,” in order for these nurses to understand their patients better and help treat them in the way they would feel comfortable. Today, many medical students are learning how to face cross- cultural issues. For example, the University of Wisconsin developed an “integrated multi-cultural curriculum,” in order to practice cross-culture. This includes the following: “panel and group discussions, case conferences, student interviews, role-playing exercises, and home visits (271.)” Furthermore, Stanford is trying to convey the “whole doctor-whole patient” model to be used again. What this model does is it allows doctors to, “bring his or her full humanity (275.)” Which means doctors should give more attention to what illness the person has rather than which person has this type of illness. As a result, this will help save more peoples lives and not interfere with one another’s cultural beliefs. Overall, these are many ways of how people are trying to “bridge the

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“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.

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565 Words | 3 Pages

‘The spirit catches you and you fall down’ was published in 2012 by essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman. This introductory book review analyzes the way in which different cultures perceive illnesses and diseases. It focuses on the story of the Lees a Hmong family, who moved to the United States and experiences difficulties with language, culture and biomedicine method of healing, which contradict to Hmong’s way of healing. The chapters describe the differences between the ways childbirth is conducted in Hmong society compared to the western society. As well as the struggle the Lees family has with the cultural differences in diagnoses and treatment of their ill daughter.

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Anne Fadiman’s professional background is that of the Hmong lifestyle with its cultures against the entire American culture. In his background, there is miscommunication resulting from the refusal of the give medical dosages and other medicines due to the misunderstandings and mistrust. According to Barnsteiner , (p.71), there is also the inability of the US doctors to treat those people deeply rooted in the Hmong culture and they are also unable to learn that culture in the most helpful. Hmong is a refugee family in the US and that is where Ann Fadiman comes from. They come from provinces such as Laos and Sainyabuli which have tried to interact with the healthcare system in California and Merced.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragic true story written by Anne Fadiman, who spent over five years in the middle of a fight between Hmong culture and American medicine. The book is about a young Hmong child named Lia Lee. At 3 months old she started showing signs of severe epilepsy. Her American doctors had a strict and rigorous treatment plan, but were baffled when the family refused to follow it because of their culture and beliefs. Anne Fadiman originally went to the Lee’s hometown of Merced California as a columnist writing an article on Hmong culture for Life Magazine, but soon gained a personal connection to the Lee family.

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After reading Dr. Galanti 's articles about culturally competent healthcare please answer the following questions: What did you gain from reading Dr. Galanti 's article? Dr. Galanti provides insight into the relationship between cultural diversity and heath care providers. Dr. Galanti’s briefly states the difference between “stereotype and generalization”. The author recognizes that generalization may be a key factor used by workers in the health care community to bring awareness and a better understanding of cultural differences among patients. The article explains that although cultures differ in values, traditions, and beliefs, there are questions (the 4’C’s of culture) that may open up the line of communication, between provider and

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The Hmong practice traditional healing and sacrifices and saw America as a place they could continue doing so. Soon, they learned that American doctors did not respect their traditional beliefs in medicine and saw western medicine as the “right way.” Doctors grew angry that their Hmong patients would not agree with their treatments. The Lee’s are one of many who experienced this first hand.

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914 Words | 4 Pages

The book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman is based on a true story that delves into the life of Lia Lee, a young epileptic Hmong child (Fadiman, 2012). It focuses on Lia’s condition and her family’s experiences through the problem with the sole purpose of highlighting the collision between two cultures including the American and Hmong culture, and the effect that the cultures have on her health. Fadiman gives a detailed report on the complicated interactions between all the people around Lia and uncovers the deep struggles experienced in the pursuit of her well-being. Lia’s struggle as highlighted in the book primarily arises from a cultural collision

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Cultural insensitivity is prevalent throughout the Hmong’s journey with the American health care system. Between 8 months and 4.5 years Lia was in the hospital seventeen times and made more the one hundred visits to ER and paediatric clinic. The health care system failed to attempt to understand the Hmong language and culture, which lead to the Hmong adapting their cultural traditions and familiarities to please

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1860 Words | 8 Pages

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, explores cultural competence, ethics in medicine, and the provision of culturally competent health care in the United States by following a family of Hmong culture in their struggles with mainstream U.S. society and healthcare. Fadiman has implemented her studies to highlight the differences between Hmong and Western practices and perspectives on health care, illness, spirituality, and the body. Through her extensive research, Fadiman is able to express cultural differences and the impact ignoring this crucial piece can have. Healthcare in the U.S. is described as the best in the world, but Fadiman is able to highlight the weaknesses this healthcare system has in regards to culturally

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965 Words | 4 Pages

The case of Lia Lee can be used holistically to showcase the negative effects which a culture and language barrier can produce between doctor and patient. It can reveal how communication and cultural sensitivity can aid in medical practice. Nevertheless, Lia’s case also shows the need for doctors and healthcare practitioners to learn more of about a culture so that treatment may be administered smoothly and without complete comprehension of the patient and their

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335 Words | 2 Pages

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall is a novel based on the clash of two cultures---the Hmong culture and the American culture. A little Hmong girl is diagnosed with epilepsy which her parents believe is caused by spirits. Because of this belief, they try to cure her illness not with western medication but their own Hmong ways. There is a huge misunderstanding between the parents and the doctors that Anne Fadiman explores. Anne Fadiman provides readers with a vivid, detailed history of the Hmong in Laos to their involvement in the Vietnam War to their struggles in America that explains this clash.

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1960 Words | 8 Pages

Over the progression of the book the view points and relationships between the Lees and the doctors develops slightly. The medical staff was not prepared with a translator or a cultural understanding of the Hmong and how their beliefs would not match up with their medical practices. “Not only do the Hmong fail resoundingly to improve the payer mix- more than eighty percent are on Medi-Cal- but they have proved even more costly than other indigent patients, because they generally require more time and attention, and because there are so many of them that MCMC has to hire bilingual staff members to mediate between patients and providers” (Fadiman 25). This theme in the story was immensely eye opening for all of the cultural gaps that exist throughout the United States. The solution to this problem is for both sides standing on opposite sides of the gap to take the time to bridge the gap together.

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674 Words | 3 Pages

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a story about Anne Fadiman’s anthropological research on a Hmong family. The particular family she studies is the Lees, who traveled from Laos and settled in Merced, CA. The family was immediately in ultimate culture shock in their new surroundings. The mother, who had delivered all of her babies alone, had her first experience delivering a baby in a hospital.

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1336 Words | 6 Pages

Book Review: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Tim Merlino Drexel University November 2017 The patient-doctor relationship recognizes transference affects as a bi-directional relationship which affects the way a health care provider treats a patient and the way the patient responds to treatment (Zinn, 1990). Fadiman’s book examines different problems in the culture of American medicine by highlighting a tragedy centered around a Hmong immigrant family and their sick child, Lia, in California (Fadiman, 2012). The story also highlights some important lessons to be learned by the American health care system to avoid future incidents like described by Fadiman and to ultimately apply cultural competency in public health (Fadiman, 2012).

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545 Words | 3 Pages

The world is a diverse population, with people coming from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A person’s views, values, and traditions determine their daily needs and practices. So, healthcare providers face certain challenges and restrictions because a patient’s belief may inhibit professionals from providing the most effective care. Therefore, cultural competence is an important idea for healthcare providers to consider when understanding and respecting patients. Balcazar, Suarez-Balcazar, and Taylor-Ritzler (2009) noted in “Cultural competence:

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