Ethnomedical Approach
The Ethnomedical approach taken by medical anthropologists is one that really looks in depth to how a specific illness is overviewed in each culture. This approach takes into account how that illness is identified, accepted, and treated with respect to each cultures values and traditions. “Illness” can be described and influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. That being said, one could see how culture can play a part in how each illness is perceived.
First, lets talk a little about the concept of “culture” and what kind of influences it may have. Culture can be evaluated in many ways and can be very complex, but one could say it’s how a specific group behaves or acts based on a specific set of traditions, values, or beliefs that the group has practiced throughout it’s existence. Many medical systems are based upon these beliefs and each illness may be looked at in its own way between cultures. Depression is no exception to these beliefs and although depression has a set definition, ultimately it’s up to each culture to interpret the strength of depression’s existence, as you can see in the youtube video at the bottom of this page.
Depression, more often than not, is evaluated on the symptoms each person has at that time ranging from somatic or physical symptoms to psychological or social symptoms. Overall, yes these symptoms are well known to be associated with depression, but like I said earlier, ultimately it’s up to the individual and their cultural values to describe their symptoms, which explains the variability amongst the mental illness all around the world (Patel). For example, much debate goes into the idea of individual body and whether “the mind” is part of and should be conceptualized with “the body”. “Western” countries typically look at the two separately whereas in some other places the two are looked at synonymously depending on the culture. A culture that looks at the individual body combining the mind and body together, would be more likely to let emotional or psychological symptoms go unnoticed, so in these cases somatic symptoms are more likely to be expressed, even though the individual may have emotional symptoms that just go unreported (Chentsova-Dutton). That being said an anthropologist studying depression in these cultures must know about the potential lack of symptoms and must not rule that depression is out of the question due to the absence of symptoms.
Depression has many general qualities or symptoms that can almost be applied to any illness, which makes it tough to identify depression amongst certain groups. Elaborating on that, many cultures have specific syndromes that are known to that culture and have similar symptoms as depression (Chentsova-Dutton. Examples of these “culture-bound syndromes” are Pena (in Ecuador) and Hwa-byung (in Korea). The symptoms of these syndromes are so similar to that of major depressive disorder that the patient could easily meet the criteria, but depression would not be the accepted term used by these cultures.
Each culture has their own ways of treatment for depression, all depending on their values and beliefs. Here in the U.S, along with other “Western countries”, pharmaceuticals are used to intervene the symptoms of the illness. Other treatments include psychiatry intervention and physical therapy, which are like pharmaceuticals apart of the professional sector of medicine. The folk sector, a more holistic approach compared to the professional sector, is also used for major depression intervention. Many non-western medicine countries practice this type of healing ranging from Acupuncture, being very common in Asian cultures, to community rituals to restore one to the overall social group, as the case with the culture bound syndrome known as Pena in Ecuador (Chentsova-Dutton).
Culture plays a huge part in the evaluation, treatment, and the study of depression all around the world. The variability in interpretation of depression is the reason why each culture needs to broken down in order to get a complete grasp on what is going on and should not be taken lightly.
First, lets talk a little about the concept of “culture” and what kind of influences it may have. Culture can be evaluated in many ways and can be very complex, but one could say it’s how a specific group behaves or acts based on a specific set of traditions, values, or beliefs that the group has practiced throughout it’s existence. Many medical systems are based upon these beliefs and each illness may be looked at in its own way between cultures. Depression is no exception to these beliefs and although depression has a set definition, ultimately it’s up to each culture to interpret the strength of depression’s existence, as you can see in the youtube video at the bottom of this page.
Depression, more often than not, is evaluated on the symptoms each person has at that time ranging from somatic or physical symptoms to psychological or social symptoms. Overall, yes these symptoms are well known to be associated with depression, but like I said earlier, ultimately it’s up to the individual and their cultural values to describe their symptoms, which explains the variability amongst the mental illness all around the world (Patel). For example, much debate goes into the idea of individual body and whether “the mind” is part of and should be conceptualized with “the body”. “Western” countries typically look at the two separately whereas in some other places the two are looked at synonymously depending on the culture. A culture that looks at the individual body combining the mind and body together, would be more likely to let emotional or psychological symptoms go unnoticed, so in these cases somatic symptoms are more likely to be expressed, even though the individual may have emotional symptoms that just go unreported (Chentsova-Dutton). That being said an anthropologist studying depression in these cultures must know about the potential lack of symptoms and must not rule that depression is out of the question due to the absence of symptoms.
Depression has many general qualities or symptoms that can almost be applied to any illness, which makes it tough to identify depression amongst certain groups. Elaborating on that, many cultures have specific syndromes that are known to that culture and have similar symptoms as depression (Chentsova-Dutton. Examples of these “culture-bound syndromes” are Pena (in Ecuador) and Hwa-byung (in Korea). The symptoms of these syndromes are so similar to that of major depressive disorder that the patient could easily meet the criteria, but depression would not be the accepted term used by these cultures.
Each culture has their own ways of treatment for depression, all depending on their values and beliefs. Here in the U.S, along with other “Western countries”, pharmaceuticals are used to intervene the symptoms of the illness. Other treatments include psychiatry intervention and physical therapy, which are like pharmaceuticals apart of the professional sector of medicine. The folk sector, a more holistic approach compared to the professional sector, is also used for major depression intervention. Many non-western medicine countries practice this type of healing ranging from Acupuncture, being very common in Asian cultures, to community rituals to restore one to the overall social group, as the case with the culture bound syndrome known as Pena in Ecuador (Chentsova-Dutton).
Culture plays a huge part in the evaluation, treatment, and the study of depression all around the world. The variability in interpretation of depression is the reason why each culture needs to broken down in order to get a complete grasp on what is going on and should not be taken lightly.
Bibliography:
Chentsova-Dutton, and Tsai. "Understanding Depression across Culture." Psychology. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://psych.stanford.edu/~tsailab/PDF/Understanding%20Depression%20Across%20Cultures.pdf.
"Concept of Mind, Body, and Spirit." n.d. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.malaysian-ghost-research.org/paranormal-library-and-references/articles/files/recharge-mind-body-spirit.png.
Patel, Vikram. "Cultural factors and international epidemiology." Oxford Journals | Medicine | British Medical Bulletin. n.d. http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/1/33.full.
Phildang83. "Depression Across Cultures." YouTube. May 17, 2008. Accessed August 14, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGgCO_wG7Bs.
Chentsova-Dutton, and Tsai. "Understanding Depression across Culture." Psychology. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://psych.stanford.edu/~tsailab/PDF/Understanding%20Depression%20Across%20Cultures.pdf.
"Concept of Mind, Body, and Spirit." n.d. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.malaysian-ghost-research.org/paranormal-library-and-references/articles/files/recharge-mind-body-spirit.png.
Patel, Vikram. "Cultural factors and international epidemiology." Oxford Journals | Medicine | British Medical Bulletin. n.d. http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/1/33.full.
Phildang83. "Depression Across Cultures." YouTube. May 17, 2008. Accessed August 14, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGgCO_wG7Bs.