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A review by dorhastings
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters
4.0
When I first started reading this book, I really wasn't in the mood and figured I'd continue to not like the book. However, the more I read, the more I liked it (and the more frustrated I grew, of course). The book looks at the influence of Western culture and its conceptualization of mental illness and healing across the world. The general idea is that both Westerners and those of other cultures hold up Western culture (and it's medical definitions, therapies, and medicine) as being the most correct and effective. This culture replaces each unique culture, and Watters gives four extensive examples: the rise of anorexia in Hong Kong, PTSD in Sri Lanka, schizophrenia in Zanzibar, and the mega-marketing of depression in Japan.
I wanted to get into each of these chapters, and I might eventually, but it's enough to say that each chapter is unique and studies a mental illness, but each also contributes to the bigger picture of how we construct mental illnesses, their descriptions, and their treatments. Overall I found the book to be inclusive. It wasn't entirely a rant against Western society, but it challenges us to consider our participation in society as well as in the context of helping other people by using our own ideas about mental illness but entirely disregarding their ideas. The end of the book really clinches it for me: "What is certain is that in other places in the world, cultural conceptions of the mind remain more intertwined with a variety of religions and cultural beliefs as well as the ecological and social world. They have not yet separated the mind from the body, nor have they disconnected individual mental health from that of the group. With little appreciation of these differences, we continue our efforts to convince the rest of the world to think like us. Given the level of contentment and psychological health our cultural beliefs about the mind have brought us, perhaps it's time that we rethink our generosity."
I wanted to get into each of these chapters, and I might eventually, but it's enough to say that each chapter is unique and studies a mental illness, but each also contributes to the bigger picture of how we construct mental illnesses, their descriptions, and their treatments. Overall I found the book to be inclusive. It wasn't entirely a rant against Western society, but it challenges us to consider our participation in society as well as in the context of helping other people by using our own ideas about mental illness but entirely disregarding their ideas. The end of the book really clinches it for me: "What is certain is that in other places in the world, cultural conceptions of the mind remain more intertwined with a variety of religions and cultural beliefs as well as the ecological and social world. They have not yet separated the mind from the body, nor have they disconnected individual mental health from that of the group. With little appreciation of these differences, we continue our efforts to convince the rest of the world to think like us. Given the level of contentment and psychological health our cultural beliefs about the mind have brought us, perhaps it's time that we rethink our generosity."