The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Essays

door which caused Lia to have the first seizure. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua had the believe that the loud sound made by the door led to the fleeing of her soul. The diagnosis they made was qaug dab peg to her complication, “the spirit catches you and you fall down”. In that state of concern for the safety of their daughter, Nao Kao and Foua had a believe that her sudden illness had a special transformation on her, since several people who suffer from epilepsy were appointed to be ‘shamans’ or

‘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 her brilliant and award-winning book, The Spirit Catches You & You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman skillfully demonstrates the cultural clash between a small county hospital in California, and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with sever epilepsy. Both Lia’s parents, as well as the doctors present, wanted what was best for her. However, the lack of understanding between them led to a tragedy. Fadiman did an outstanding job at demonstrating that cultural understanding

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

Anne Fadiman, author of the book, ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” reveals the negative effects of no cross-cultural communication in the medical profession. Lia Lee and her family had no previous experiences in an American hospital, America no less. This proved to be difficult, leading both sides (Hmong family and doctors) to misinterpret what both are doing and saying. This book summary summarized the book, the qualifications of the sources used, and critiques the book as a whole. The

that healthcare providers and patients or caregivers of patients are on the same page. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a young girl with epilepsy undergoes devastating effects because of cultural incompetence within healthcare. Her story is heartbreaking but shines light on the importance of resolving cultural misunderstanding. Description of Book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a story about a young Hmong girl named Lia Lee who has epilepsy. At three months old, Lia

The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger The Author and His Times J.D. Salinger was born in New York on January 1, 1919. Salinger was the middle child of three, and the product of a mixed marriage between his Jewish father and his Irish/Scottish mother, which was not socially acceptable during this time period. In his youth, Salinger was not successful in school and was thus shipped off to boarding school. After boarding school, he attended university for only a year before traveling to Europe.

and the systems theory. Later, these perspectives/theories are applied to conduct a micro and macro level analysis of Lia’s life and her parents’ Foua and Nao Kao’s relationship/cultural belief to the Western healthcare system in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Furthermore, the implications of various empirical research are incorporated and used to guide potential methods that could be applied to relevant stories of the book. Moreover, the studies discussed different social issues and elements

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. During her stay the language barrier kept her from understanding her doctors but she was pleased

"The Split Horn" provides a compelling illustration of the clash of worldviews that underpins the themes in "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." In the second half of the movie, Paja Thao, the father of the family, falls ill. The different ways of looking at his illness are informed by the different worldviews that are represented in the film. From a Western biomedical perspective, Paja's illness is seen as a collection of symptoms that require a specific diagnosis and treatment plan. Many

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

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down In the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman explores the cultural collision between the Hmong Lee family and their American doctors. Along with the culture clash, the social stigma against the Hmong family brings to light a lot of the systematic, moral, and ethical issues that can arise in our healthcare. Ultimately, the combination of the cultural clash in medical perspectives, the underlying social stigma, the inadequate treatment

The topic of birth is an interesting one and is explicitly found in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. There was a vivid difference between the Hmong traditional practices and the way Lia was born. It is to each and every ones own opinion to think and have a take on the differing birth practices. I find them to be odd, and extremely unorthodox especially in modern times however going back less than a hundred years, talking to my great grandmother, that is the way people gave birth

“I imagine what they would sound like if I could somehow splice [the tapes] together, so the voices of the Hmong and the voices of the American doctors could be heard on a single tape, speaking a common language” (Fadiman, ix). I was in awe at how quickly, in the last line of the preface, Anne Fadiman perfectly encapsulates all that is wrong with American medicine and the lack of cross-cultural knowledge healthcare professionals possess. She went on to write an eye-opening novel beautifully depicting

in medical remedies and the language spoken. I know first hand that my mother would perfer to have a Ghanaian physician, as opposed to the general white American doctor. Anne Fadiman wrote a successful award-winning book called, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which highlights how the cultural differences between the Hmong culture and American medicine jeopardized the health of a little girl named Lia Lee. The story brings into light the topic of Medical anthropology, which is the study

The Spirit Catches You ​The Spirit Catches you and You fall down centers on Lia Lee, an epileptic Hmong Child who is caught in-between care of her loving parents and the responsibility of her caring doctors. Her parents are traditional Hmong’s who are hesitant towards American medicinal methods compared to Hmong traditional methods. While on the other side stands her American doctors, who were educated in American Universities and are for the most part are very much against treating Lia with

Makenzie Griffith EDSE 460 Denise Hitchcock 1 March 2018 Midterm: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down It is a story about a family who shows so much loyalty to their traditions and cultures, but it clashes with the strict American “norm” and creates conflict for their most prized possession, their daughter. Young Lia’s health is at risk when the doctors are trying to treat her epilepsy, but the culture barrier between them and her parents put her at risk. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and

The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down” is an astonishing book that reveals the need for improvement of cultural competency in the American healthcare system. This book teaches me the importance of the role of healthcare administrator as a cultural advocate between the patients and the providers. This book also influences me in realizing the differences between patients’ culture and providers’ culture. Moreover, I can relate to Jeanine Hilt, a social worker who truly cares for the Hmong culture

Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down shows that Lia’s story and her culture, the Hmong culture, are a problematic tragedy according to Janelle Taylor. The Hmong culture is simplified by being shown as a difficult, uncompromising culture that refuses to change their ways. Fadiman shows cultures as a static and unchanging, which is untrue. Cultures are always changing and not static. American culture is more future oriented, while the Hmong culture is presented as past oriented

mixed together. Although this may seem like a harmless thing, the idea that one must give up part of their culture to obtain parts of a new one undermines the importance of cultures in one’s life. In chapter 14 “The Melting Pot” of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman shows the challenges and hardships that Hmong immigrants faced when immigrating to America to show the power that an environment has on a person’s connection to their culture, and the impact that people have on the culture