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Notes on the book by Anne Fadiman “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”
The book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” raises many issues, including the cultural barriers, their impact on health care, immigration, racism, laws and rules, and many more. While the book is really about the collision of two systems – the system of medical care in United States and the world system of the Hmong population, it is also about the deeper reasons for the problems that rose in this story. A lot of the Hmong character, brave and noncompliant, is demonstrated through the history of the Hmong people, their involvement in the “American” war (where it was seen as an advantage), their belief that the U.S. is…
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Notes on the article by M. C. Inhorn and G. I. Serour “Islam, medicine, and Arab-Muslim refugee health in America after 9/11”
From this article we learn that muslims do not agree on some common global norms or best practices. Their responses to medical problems and procedures, such as assisted reproductive technologies, are mediated by a wide range of ever-changing local circumstances and social forces. (p.937) There is a great diversity in the world’s Muslim population. In addition to sectarian differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the followers of Islam vary greatly in their religious piety. Some Muslims follow particular clerics, whereas others consider their primary relationship to be with God. “Islam is not monolithic and Islamic religious authorities are not in agreement about science, technology, and medicine—eg, for assisted reproductive technologies,…
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Notes on the article by A. Baez and D. Hernandez “Complementary Spiritual Beliefs in the Latino Community: The Interface with Psychotherapy”
The article demonstrates that the successful provision of culturally sensitive and culturally inclusive mental health services depends in large part on the level of congruence between the client’s and the mental health practitioner’s respective views of mental illness and its treatment. So, it is vital for mental health professionals to draw the distinction in these matters in order to find the best approach to their patients. This article is intended to help non-Latino mental health practitioners reach that “level of understanding and respect, and also to achieve the adjustment of clinical techniques necessary for better cultural responsiveness to these patients, a matter seldom addressed directly in the mental health literature”…
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Notes on “Shattering Culture: American Medicine Responds to Cultural Diversity” by Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good (Editor) et al.
The world is changing, the people are moving, the demographics are being reshaped, especially in the US where there are so many immigrants. This book presents a collection of works that describe how are health-care institutions responding to this changing demographics, including issues within the institutional policies and the personal human dilemmas in serving the diverse and constantly changing group of patients. Although it is clear that cultural diversity often covaries with racial and ethnic classifications, we must remember that cultural diversity can exist within ethnic groups as well, and other dimensions of culture (such as those deriving from class background or education). Through various examples we are shown that…
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Islam – a very short overview
The word Islam means “submission to the will of God”. Islam is the second largest religion in the world. The flowers of Islam are called Muslims. It is a monotheistic religion, as the Muslims believe there is only one God. Muslims believe that Islam was revealed over 1400 years ago in Mecca, Arabia. The word for God in Arabic is Allah. Muslims believe that God sent several prophets to people to teach about his law, including Jesus, Moses, Abraham, and Muhammad. Thus all the prophets of major religions of the World are respected by Muslims. Muslims base their laws on their holy book the Qur’an, and the Sunnah. The Qur’an is…