Ethnomedical Approach:
The ethnomedical approach of anthropology deals with the how illness is identified, understood, and treated within different cultural contexts. (ANP Lecture 3.1). Most societies have many various different ways of practicing ethnomedicine including biomedicine, the most popular in the United States, massage therapy, chiropractic therapies, herbology, psychiatry, as well as acupuncture. The ethnomedical approach includes three sectors: professional, popular, and folk. First, the popular sector is the domain where the illness is first recognized. It is here in the popular sector where friends and family may provide advice on the illness and symptoms. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The folk sector of ethnomedicine differs in the fact that the folk sector is between the popular and professional sector. Healers may be sacred or secular in the folk sector and medicine is normally practiced in a holistic approach in the folk sector. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The sector most people think of when it comes to medicine is the professional sector, which is organized, legally licensed health professionals as well as paraprofessionals. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The ethnomedical approach of medicine is crucial to understanding autism because there are many different ways that autism is treated. It is important to take culture into consideration especially when discussing autism due to the fact that cultures view people with autism in different ways as well as treat autistic patients in different ways. Autism has been treated in the past using the folk sector by having healing rituals performed. As discussed in class, Rowan, the autistic child in the film, "The Horse Boy," was treated for his autistic symptoms by a shaman in Mongolia through different spiritual rituals. Although it is controversial and not really understood if or how shaman's rituals actually alleviate symptoms of the illness of autism, that is a way that some families with autistic children seek for treatments in the folk sector of medicine. At the bottom of the page, I provided a youtube video of the film "The Horse Boy." The film provides insight into the lives of people with autism and the struggles their families go through as well. The film shows examples of the shaman rituals in Mongolia that I discussed above.
The ethnomedical approach of anthropology deals with the how illness is identified, understood, and treated within different cultural contexts. (ANP Lecture 3.1). Most societies have many various different ways of practicing ethnomedicine including biomedicine, the most popular in the United States, massage therapy, chiropractic therapies, herbology, psychiatry, as well as acupuncture. The ethnomedical approach includes three sectors: professional, popular, and folk. First, the popular sector is the domain where the illness is first recognized. It is here in the popular sector where friends and family may provide advice on the illness and symptoms. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The folk sector of ethnomedicine differs in the fact that the folk sector is between the popular and professional sector. Healers may be sacred or secular in the folk sector and medicine is normally practiced in a holistic approach in the folk sector. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The sector most people think of when it comes to medicine is the professional sector, which is organized, legally licensed health professionals as well as paraprofessionals. (ANP Lecture 3.1). The ethnomedical approach of medicine is crucial to understanding autism because there are many different ways that autism is treated. It is important to take culture into consideration especially when discussing autism due to the fact that cultures view people with autism in different ways as well as treat autistic patients in different ways. Autism has been treated in the past using the folk sector by having healing rituals performed. As discussed in class, Rowan, the autistic child in the film, "The Horse Boy," was treated for his autistic symptoms by a shaman in Mongolia through different spiritual rituals. Although it is controversial and not really understood if or how shaman's rituals actually alleviate symptoms of the illness of autism, that is a way that some families with autistic children seek for treatments in the folk sector of medicine. At the bottom of the page, I provided a youtube video of the film "The Horse Boy." The film provides insight into the lives of people with autism and the struggles their families go through as well. The film shows examples of the shaman rituals in Mongolia that I discussed above.
Autism is treated by health professionals in the professional sector by doctors providing medicine that may help alleviate the symptoms of autism. Doctors may prescribe drugs to help with more normal brain development, anxiety, stress, and depression caused by autism. The figure shown on the left shows the different means of treatments used to treat autistic patients. Examples are occupational therapies, behavioral therapies, medical/pharmaceutical treatment, educational therapies, etc. (IACC). Other professionals provide speech therapies as well as therapies for cognitive development in autistic patients. The popular sector is used when discussing autism mostly before it is diagnosed by a medical doctor. The popular sector is apparent when family and friends may believe that someone may be autistic before they seek testing and medical treatments.
The Body:
As we learned from ANP Lecture 3.2 and the article written by Nancy Sheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock, the body can be broken down into three subsections which are the individual body, the social body, and the body politic. (ANP Lecture 3.2).
1. The individual body studies how the soul, psyche, and physical matter relate to one another. It also looks at how ones body imagery is portrayed (ANP Lecture 3.2). With autism, autistic patients typically have difficulty with normal speech, brain development, and normal physical function portrayed by the body.
2. The social body represents the body as a machine (reflecting the values or ideologies of a specific culture). In western medicine, society may refer to themselves as "running on empty" implying that one has no energy or is exhausted. (ANP Lecture 3.2). Someone with the illness of autism may say that their body is frustrating in that it does not act the way it is supposed to, mentally and physically.
3.The body politic describes regulation, surveillance, and control of the body. This politic looks at illness as population wide goal in terms of cultural, political, and moral ideologies. (ANP Lecture 3.2). People with the illness of autism have medical check ups regularly to monitor the disease, provide therapy, and provide necessary treatments.
Citations:
Tazin, Karim. "Lecture 3.1 Ethnomedical Systems. Week 3 Ethnomedical Approach". http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-1/ (accessed July 29, 2014)
Tazin, Karim. "Lecture 3.2 Culture, illness, and the body. Week 3 Ethnomedical Approach". http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-2/ (accessed July 27, 2014)
Nancy Sheper-Hughes and Margaret M. Lock. "The mindful body: A prolegomenon to future work in medical anthropology". American Anthropological Association. 1 (1987): 6-41. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/files/2012/06/The-Mindful-Body.pdf
"The Horse Boy THAT HAD AUTISM." YouTube. Accessed August 13, 2014.
"IACC/OARC ASD Research Publications Analysis." IACC Upcoming Meetings Events RSS. Accessed August 13, 2014.
The Body:
As we learned from ANP Lecture 3.2 and the article written by Nancy Sheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock, the body can be broken down into three subsections which are the individual body, the social body, and the body politic. (ANP Lecture 3.2).
1. The individual body studies how the soul, psyche, and physical matter relate to one another. It also looks at how ones body imagery is portrayed (ANP Lecture 3.2). With autism, autistic patients typically have difficulty with normal speech, brain development, and normal physical function portrayed by the body.
2. The social body represents the body as a machine (reflecting the values or ideologies of a specific culture). In western medicine, society may refer to themselves as "running on empty" implying that one has no energy or is exhausted. (ANP Lecture 3.2). Someone with the illness of autism may say that their body is frustrating in that it does not act the way it is supposed to, mentally and physically.
3.The body politic describes regulation, surveillance, and control of the body. This politic looks at illness as population wide goal in terms of cultural, political, and moral ideologies. (ANP Lecture 3.2). People with the illness of autism have medical check ups regularly to monitor the disease, provide therapy, and provide necessary treatments.
Citations:
Tazin, Karim. "Lecture 3.1 Ethnomedical Systems. Week 3 Ethnomedical Approach". http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-1/ (accessed July 29, 2014)
Tazin, Karim. "Lecture 3.2 Culture, illness, and the body. Week 3 Ethnomedical Approach". http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/schedule/week-3-lecture-2/ (accessed July 27, 2014)
Nancy Sheper-Hughes and Margaret M. Lock. "The mindful body: A prolegomenon to future work in medical anthropology". American Anthropological Association. 1 (1987): 6-41. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/files/2012/06/The-Mindful-Body.pdf
"The Horse Boy THAT HAD AUTISM." YouTube. Accessed August 13, 2014.
"IACC/OARC ASD Research Publications Analysis." IACC Upcoming Meetings Events RSS. Accessed August 13, 2014.