Macrina Mackan - Week 5

This week's topic had great importance and meaning for me. Psychology is the field of study that I am pursuing, so I was very excited to see psychology being talked about in a whole new way. The article I appreciated the most was titled, "What a Shaman Sees in a Mental Hospital". It talked about how mental illness is viewed very differently in western culture compared with the Dagara community. A shaman from this community was able to see and experience first-hand what goes on in a mental hospital in the United States. This shaman discusses the great importance of mental illness in his community. To these people, someone with a mental illness is not sick, but is blessed because this "illness" is an attempt for a spirit to connect with the individual so that they can become a bridge to the spirit world. The Shaman even proves to the readers that mental illness is not what we typically think it is. He takes a young man from the United States to his village where they teach him how to become a bridge to the two worlds. After his learning journey, this man acts as someone who has never had a mental illness. He even chooses to stay a few more years in this community because he feels accepted there and not back home. As someone who has only studied the scientific aspects of psychology, this article was a little hard to believe. I had told myself that I was going to keep an open mind while taking this class and that is something I feel I have done. Maybe the way the shaman describes works for some and maybe the traditional way works for others, but either way, I will not be able to say that one way is the right way because there is no possible way to prove this to be true. My question about the topic of this week is if mental hospitals exist in Asia? I have heard so much about the alternative practices that I feel that there may not be western practices that migrated over. Mental hospitals have become much more friendly and safe over the years compared to what they were before. The treatments given have drastically changed from bad to good. Here is a short video highlighting some of the preferred treatments in the 1950's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Izmyru5T_w