Week 3: Mental Health Industrial Complex and Clash of Self -Brittany Carlson

            In preparation for this week’s discussions, we read “Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic” by Shana Bulhan Haydock from Open in Emergency; “Attack on the Spirit by the “Rational World” (and Spiritual Recovery from It)” by Brett Esaki; “What a Shaman Sees in a Mental Health” by Stephanie Marohn and Malidoma Patrice Some; “Combining Indian and Western Spiritual Psychology: Applications to Health and Social Renewal” by Doug Oman and Nirbhay N. Singh; and “Tarot Cards: The Survivor, The Patient, and The Prisoner” from the Open in Emergency box. In “Attack on the Spirit by the “Rational World” (and Spiritual Recovery from It)” by Brett Esaki, Brett Esaki uses Peter Berger’s theory of the world to explain the correlation between academic environments and why Asian American women use spirituality to recover from it. This relates to the theme of the week because it shows societies negative effects on people’s mental health and how turning to spirituality can be an option for these people. In “What a Shaman Sees in a Mental Health” by Stephanie Marohn and Malidoma Patrice Some, the article discusses that shamans view mental illness as a good occurrence or a sign of the birth of a healer whereas Westerners see it as a negative sign that the person is crazy or dysfunctional. This connects to the theme of this week’s reading because it relates to the industrial complex of mental health. In “Combining Indian and Western Spiritual Psychology: Applications to Health and Social Renewal” by Doug Oman and Nirbhay N. Singh, the article discuses Indian and US collaboration in studying religion and spirituality regarding topics such as health effects from engagement in Indian religious practices, health and psychological effects of specific spiritual practices, and how spiritual practices effect mindfulness. This connects to the theme of the week because it is a discussion about religious effects on mental health and it relates to the mental health industrial complex.

Question: In “What a Shaman Sees in a Mental Health” by Stephanie Marohn and Malidoma Patrice Some, why do shamans believe that mental illness signals “the birth of a healer”? 

http://health-and-wellness.net/spiritual-health.html

Literature Cited:

Shana Bulhan Haydock. “Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic.” Open in Emergency.

Brett Esaki. “Attack on the Spirit by the “Rational World” (and Spiritual Recovery from It).”

Stephanie Marohn with Malidoma Patrice Some. “What a Shaman Sees in a Mental Health.”

Doug Oman and Nirbhay N. Singh. “Combining Indian and Western Spiritual Psychology: Applications to Health and Social Renewal.”

Open in Emergency. “Tarot Cards: The Survivor, The Patient, and The Prisoner.”

Media Cited:

http://health-and-wellness.net/spiritual-health.html