Health and Healing

Acupuncture needles and traditional herbs

Health and Healing

• Medical Anthropology: the cross-cultural study of health and health problems

• All cultures have a “health system” which includes– Perceptions and beliefs about the body– Classifications of health problems– Prevention measures– Healing/healers

Defining and Classifying Health Issues

• Disease vs. Illness– A disease is a universal, cross-culturally experienced

medical issue• Objective, measurable pathology

– Illness is the cultural experience of a medical issue• May be directly related to disease, but also spiritual or

psychological imbalance• Likely tied to broader cultural world view• Important to understand culture of individual experiencing

illness to be able to treat it

Defining and Classifying Health Issues

• Culture-Specific Syndrome (CSS)– A health problem with a set of symptoms associated

with a particular culture– Examples:

• “Susto” in Latin American cultures—illness caused by fright, often set off by a trauma such as a death of a loved one or an accident

– Seen as a “folk illness”, commonly compared to anxiety• Anorexia/bulimia in Western cultures—caused by body

dysmorphia– Very real effects on health

• Evil eye (many cultures)—illness caused by another person’s envy or admiration

Healers• All cultures recognize certain people as having

special abilities to diagnose and treat health problems– Midwives, Bonesetters, Shamans or Shamankas,

Herbalists, General practitioners, Psychiatrists, Nurses, Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Dentists, Doctors, Etc.

• Wide range of healing substances– Natural or manufactured, for prevention or cures, from botanicals

to pharmaceuticals

• Different criteria for becoming a healer– Selection, Training, Certification, Image, Payment

Death and Dying• Culture shapes views of the “good death” and

proper treatment of the body– How does Western culture deal with death?

• Immense cultural variation in expression of grief at loss of loved one

• Example: Memorializing fetus death in Japan– Mizuko kuyō: fetus memorial service for unborn,

miscarried and stillborn babies• Mizuko: “water child”

– Jizō: protector of deceased children