Week 3: Mental Health in the West

Week 3: Mental Health in the West
ASA 189B
Franchesca Flores

Photo from Psychology Careers by Psychology Degree 411

The topic of mental health was first seen in the 1800s where doctors believed that symptoms of "unusual" sadness and anger derived from the humorous where they would then use leeches and remove blood from the patient to treat their mental illness. Since not all cases were cured they further conducted research by concluding that these mental illnesses come from unnecessary organs such as the spleen and tonsils, so physicians began to remove them from the patients. Although, they did not quite cure "mental-illness" since there still people who were diagnosed with these "oversensitive" symptoms. (Big Pharma Big Money) Today people that have gone to a Western doctor for treatment of social anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and depression will be prescribed pills to alleviate their symptoms due to the imbalance of serotonin and dopamine in the brain (Claudia Keyworth, former pharmaceutical sales rep). 

Other cultures and religions believe that these psychological disorders stem from the persons soul trying to send messages to the physical world from the spirit world. In that case people will seek out to Shamans to have them help guide their spirit and translate the message from the spirit world. Eastern cultures view psychological distress as “news from the other world,” (Stephanie Marohn, “The Shamanic View of Mental Illness”). I personally agree with the Eastern view of the brain and their diagnosis because they are trying to truly understand the person, rather than feeding them pills in hope that they will heal. The question I want to pose is, where can we begin to incorporate spirituality in the psychology field?