Chapter Seven Flashcards
Ethnomedicine
The study of cross-cultural health systems
Perceptions of Body
Our view about human body differ depending on our culture or the medical system that we believe in.
Illness vs Disease
Illness refers to culturally specific perceptions and experiences of a health problem. Disease refers to a biological health problem that is objective and universal.
Culture-Specific Syndrome
A health problem with a set of symptoms associated with a particular culture. Social factors such as stress, fear, or shock often are the underlying causes.
Susto
Health problem resulting from fright or shock. Symptoms: poor appetite, problems sleeping, anxiety. Normally found in Spain, Portugal, South America, Latino immigrants in the U.S. and Canada
Structural Suffering
Health issues caused by poverty, war, famine, forced migration, and other powerful forces. They affect health in ways ranging from anxiety and depression to death.
Community Healing
Healing that emphasizes the social context as a key component and that is carried out within the public domain. People’s solidarity and group sessions may support mental and physical health, acting as a health protection system
Humoral Healing
Healing that emphasizes balance among natural elements of the body. Diseases are the result of bodily imbalances—too much heat or coolness—that must be counteracted through dietary and behavioral changes or medicines that will restore balance.
The Ecological/Epidemiological Approach
The interaction between culture and environment that leads to individual and population health problems.
The Symbolic/Interpretivist Approach
A health system and its categories of disease/illness help people who suffer from discomfort and sickness make sense of their experiences
The Critical Medical Anthropology Approach
Critically examine medical and health issues from the lenses of power, inequality, and social factors and how they affect the health system.
Medicalization
Labeling a particular issue or problem as medical and requiring medical treatment when, in fact, its cause is structural.
Disease of Development
A health problem caused or increased by economic development projects.
Medical Pluralism
The presence of several, separate health systems within a society. The coexistence of many forms of healing provides clients a range of choices and enhances the quality of health.
Applied Medical Anthropology
The application of anthropological knowledge to further the goals of health-care providers.
