It would never have occurred to them to emulate Luis Estevez, a pediatrician at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, who has referred Puerto Rican and Dominican patients to a Santeria high priest as he might refer them to an opthalmologist, or Yasmin Collazo, a psychiatrist at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, who has allowed a Mexican curandero, or folk healer, to perform a cleansing ceremony in the hospital for a schizophrenic patient. Dr. Collazo said that after the visit, the patient was far more compliant in taking her antipsychotic medications, which she believed the curandero had sanctified.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
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In "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down," Anne Fadiman illustrates the cultural challenges in healthcare by highlighting examples from the Bronx and Queens. Pediatrician Luis Estevez successfully integrates Santeria spiritual practices into his medical referrals for Puerto Rican and Dominican patients, while psychiatrist Yasmin Collazo facilitates traditional healing by allowing a curandero to perform a ceremony for a schizophrenic patient. This indicates a unique approach to medicine that respects and incorporates cultural beliefs.

Dr. Collazo observed that the patient's cooperation with her antipsychotic treatment improved significantly after the curandero's cleansing ritual. This suggests that combining traditional and modern medical practices can enhance treatment outcomes by addressing patients' cultural contexts. Fadiman’s work emphasizes the importance of understanding the intersection of cultural beliefs and medical practices to provide effective healthcare.

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The Spirit Catches You...
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Other quotes in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

After a few months went by, Dee started leaving her own baby with Foua when she took Lia to medical appointments-perhaps the first instance in the history of Child Protective Services that a foster mother has asked a legally abusive parent to baby-sit for her.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
After a few months went by, Dee started leaving her own baby with Foua when she took Lia to medical appointments-perhaps the first instance in the history of Child Protective Services that a foster mother has asked a legally abusive parent to baby-sit for her.
Dan Murphy's diagnosis added Lia Lee to a distibguished line of epileptics that has inlcuded Soren Kierkegaard, Vincent van Gogh, Gustave Flaubert, Lewis Carroll, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, all of whom, like many Hmong shamans, experienced powerful senses of grandeur and spiritiual passion during their seizures, and powerful creative urges in their wake.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
Dan Murphy's diagnosis added Lia Lee to a distibguished line of epileptics that has inlcuded Soren Kierkegaard, Vincent van Gogh, Gustave Flaubert, Lewis Carroll, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, all of whom, like many Hmong shamans, experienced powerful senses of grandeur and spiritiual passion during their seizures, and powerful creative urges in their wake.
I'll meet some people who'll treat me mean and I'll just pray that I'll never be like them. And then I'll meet some very nice people and I will take a little bit of them and make myself a better person.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
I'll meet some people who'll treat me mean and I'll just pray that I'll never be like them. And then I'll meet some very nice people and I will take a little bit of them and make myself a better person.
In 1965, Johnson commented sanctimoniously that "the problem of Laos is the refusal of the Communist forces to honor the Geneva Accords," What he failed to mention was that his own country wasn't honoring them either; it was just doing a better job of keeping its violations secret.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
In 1965, Johnson commented sanctimoniously that "the problem of Laos is the refusal of the Communist forces to honor the Geneva Accords," What he failed to mention was that his own country wasn't honoring them either; it was just doing a better job of keeping its violations secret.
Your soul is like your shadow," she said. "Sometimes it just wanders off like a butterfly and that is when you are sad and that's when you get sick, and if it comes back to you, that is when you are happy and you are well again.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
Your soul is like your shadow," she said. "Sometimes it just wanders off like a butterfly and that is when you are sad and that's when you get sick, and if it comes back to you, that is when you are happy and you are well again.
Now I only have one rule. Before I do anything I ask, Is it okay? Because I'm an American woman and they don't expect me to act like a Hmong anyway, they usually give me plenty of leeway.
Anne Fadiman The Spirit Catches You...
Now I only have one rule. Before I do anything I ask, Is it okay? Because I'm an American woman and they don't expect me to act like a Hmong anyway, they usually give me plenty of leeway.
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{...} what I wish for Chizalum is the following: that she is full of opinions, and that her opinions stem from a well-informed, humane, and open mind. That she have health and happiness. That she have the life she wants to have.
«In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds, nations, and races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in the Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.»
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When had it become so ingrained in her to apologize whenever she wanted something for herself?
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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