The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Summary

A common theme that has been discussed regarding the adversities that immigrants experience when arriving to the America are the social and cultural clashes between immigrants and citizens. What I find interesting is the conflicts pertaining to the health care system. Based on previous lectures, immigrants tend to mistrust the American health care system due to difference in medical remedies and the language spoken. I know first-hand that my mother would prefer 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 of medical systems, healing practices, and views of health from different cultures. Prior to reading this book, I was thinking of this issue in the immigrant's perspective; I understood the mistrust that immigrants had in the health field, because they feel that the county is set
People of all ages can get it and a significant sign of diagnosing the condition is experiencing two or more seizures in a 24 hour period (“The Epilepsies” 2016). Although there is no cure for epilepsy, the condition can be controlled with anticonvulsant drugs. I personally have prior knowledge of the condition from my AP Biology class. I immediately thought of my senior year of high school, when I first was taught about epilepsy. My friend Nadine showed us a documentary which showed an old man who would suddenly fall out of consciousness during his daily tasks; I remember this documentary very well because it was a scary sight for me to