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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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