Week 3: Harry Manacsa
Modern medicine deduces all human imbalances
to some physiological explanation, which directly undercuts the significance of
potentially inhuman experiences. This week’s readings reiterate, perhaps, the west’s
closed-minded treatment of mental
illnesses. The Bible of mental disorders is arguably the “Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition”, or DSM-5, which outlines
all the mental illnesses recognized by the American Psychiatric Association
(APA). Last updated in 2013, this manual continually changes as our academic rationale on psychotic symptoms
increases. (Esaki 22) In the end, it boils illnesses into categories and medications,
and indirectly causes unwanted labels, stigmas, and mistreated individuals.
Brett
Esaki explains that the challenges faced by Asian American women in academia are
often undercut or dismissed by others when observed through an academic rationale, in his publication “Attack
on the Spirit by the ‘Rational World’”. He recalls Dr. Kieu Linh Valverde’s
mental illness diagnosis and how her symptoms were largely ignored by her
faculty, which contributed to undue stress from her following tenure denial. “In
these ways, western mental health care may put Asian American women into deeper
mental illness through its context, diagnoses, and prescriptions.” (Esaki 22) Obviously,
academia expects individuals to scholastically excel. Yet the resulting pressures
may prompt scholars to dismiss their own health complications, fearing it may
deter their chances at moving forward—the hubris of aspiring graduate students.
Modern medicine
attempts to describe, understand, and treat as many human abnormalities as
possible—hence the revisions to the DSM-5. In other words, it is slowly
becoming impossible to be abnormal. Shana
Bulhan Haydock finds this to be “fucked up” as she embraces her abnormalities (Haydock
45). Specifically, Haydock admires alterative interpretations to her mental
distresses in what she explains as a “Western and Eastern” dichotomy. (Haydock 51)
This mentality greatly aligns with the outlook of many outside cultures toward mental
illnesses. Shamans, for example, imbue one’s mental imbalances as “incompatible
energies hav[ing] merged into the same field.” In other words, the spiritual
forces have taken over a mortal in a divine, yet chaotic, relationship. (Marohn)
This is an example of an interpretation that Western medicine dismisses without
consideration, to which I must agree Haydock.
Question: Some mental illnesses are too severe for an individual
to communicate with anyone, which defeats that purpose of Marohn’s article
which stipulates that these individuals are the bridge between the spiritual
world and reality. To what extent can a spiritual force be the reason for one’s
mental illness?
Works Cited:
Esaki,
Brett J. "Attack on the Spirit by the “Rational World” (and Spiritual
Recovery from It)".
“fucked up.” “DSM: Asian American Edition.” Print. 15
Apr. 2017.
"What
a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital." Waking Times. N.p., 17
June 2016. Web. 15 Apr.
2017.
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