It’s interesting to look at how each eradigm of thought influences how we create definitions and explanations for experience. I was looking at this in terms of mental health and how each set of attitudes influences the interpretations and treatment of what “health” or “sickness” is.
In another thread, I posted an old medicine ad for the treatment of Schizophrenia. It got me to thinking about the different theories of Schizophrenia, since in the West we have very little clue as to how it should be defined other than through material deficiency or something gone askew in the brain. So for now, in the West, treatment has settled on medication management, and possibly support in managing the symptoms of the medication. Strangely enough, defining psychosis in this way has led to a much poorer prognosis in Schiz because it may lead the family and society to abandon the affected due to being perceived as being fundamentally “broken” (Watters, 2010) ... although we tend to think of ourselves as being much more "advanced" because of our medical approach!
Other cultures, which also tend much more toward collectivism, have a much higher rate of recovery and/or less chronic courses in Schiz diagnoses. I noticed that beyond the social aspects, these cultures also would tend to think of and treat the illness in terms of a Heavenly Kingdom line of thought. Take for example Zanzibar, where it is believed that a psychosis is caused by ancestral spirits who need to be appeased, which every person must do from time to time. This attitude leads to the person not being as likely to just be abandoned, since their experience is normalized and seen as treatable.
I think the Heavenly Kingdom line of thought is also present in the mind/body dualism shown in many early theories of Schiz, perhaps in reflecting the idea of “complexes” possessing a person. I can't quite figure out what would the Earthrise eradigm say about the cause of something like Schizophrenia ... How might it approach treatment?
If you’re bored, check out this site, with lots of psychiatric ads from the 60s and 70s, when medication was emerging as the popular way to address … well, everything, it seems. They medicated tired people, housewives who were anxious about being stuck at home, children who talked back, good lord …. http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medicineshow.html
You can see the switch between schools of thought in some of the ads:
Watters, E. (2010). Crazy like us: The globalization of the American psyche. Free Press: New York.
Replies
I wonder, what would "healing mental illness" look like if we were more in touch with the earth forgotten wisdom.
Yes, I was just reading about Australian Aboriginal birthing practices and thinking how intelligent, wise and gentle they were compared to the ones often practiced currently in the States. Though, my daughter fortunately arrived with the support of midwives in a gently supported blissful current of love.
I recently heard a story on NPR about how in cultures that define schizophrenia as a manageable difference, perhaps even divinely inspired, those with schizophrenia experience much more beneficent inner voices than those in cultures such as ours that define it as a sickness.
The psychiatric ads are so interesting. Now the pharmaceuticals couch everything in an optimistic and rosy glow, with a full page or two of disclaimers about unpleasant potential consequences.
Interesting!
In many indigenous Mother Nature cultures schizophrenia receives more loving treatment because it's not considered a personal illness but a collective one. The village participates. Earthrise seems to be a time in which we can value that kind of practice and also be integral about including the science where it helps--and beyond its Big Machine application as a series of soulless techniques. We can also ask systemic questions like: What role does the schizophrenic play in our culture? What do these people carry that we cannot? etc.