Essay about Health Care and Hmong Culture

Submitted By Lstarck1
Words: 906
Pages: 4
Open Document
Shamanism In Hmong Culture

Hmongs began to settle in the United States from Southeast Asia in 1975 but still practice many traditions from their homeland today. In many cultures that migrate to new areas, practices are discontinued over time due to Americanization. Although with many younger generations these traditions may be forgotten about, for many elders they are still practiced on a regular basis today. Healthcare providers need to have an understanding of and respect the practices of other cultures. A large percentage of Hmongs are not familiar with biomedical healthcare and do not feel comfortable with health care procedures used in the U.S. In the Hmong culture the believed source of illness can differ from what U.S. healthcare providers feels the source is. Some of the included sources of illness in the Hmong culture can be soul loss, supernatural or spirit, natural causes, magical causes (illness from cast spelled on patient), or the expiration of ones “life Visa”. The practices used to cure the illness are traditional and differ from the practices used by healthcare providers in the U.S. One of the most common practices used in the Hmong culture today to cure the ill is bring in a shaman for a séance. A shaman is also known to the Hmongs as the master of ecstasy. The shaman can be either male or female and is thought to have the ability to detach is soul from the body during a heeling séance so he can leave for the “invisible world” and be in equal standings with the spirits. Not only can the shaman disconnect is soul from its body to interact with the spirits, it can also interact by seeing them, talking to them, touching them, and if necessary can catch them and return them home. In the Hmong culture it is believed that illness can occur when the soul is not satisfied with their current owner. When this happens the soul would attempt to incarnate itself to a new location. An example of how this is though to work is given below.

“It is thought that sometimes souls may not be satisfied with their owner and would therefore try to incarnate themselves elsewhere. Say, for example, that I am a hard-working Hmong farmer. My right hand is wrinkled and callous. Because of an accident that happened while I was at work, my hand is hurt. Close to me there lives a young girl that takes great care of herself. She has a very tender and beautiful hand. One day, the soul of my hand cannot stand it any longer, and it " falls," as the Hmong would say. By this it must be understood that the soul of the farmer's hand escapes in order to reincarnate itself in the girl's hand that is so soft. “
When the soul successfully leaves its owner the body is left mutilated and sick which is why a shaman is called in to contact the spirit and heal the body by bringing back the soul potentially by using force. Hmong people typically belong to a specific clan and for each specific clan they have their own shaman which has been chosen by the spirits. The shaman heals the patient by draping the ills face with a black cloth and leaves their body to enter the invisible world. While in the invisible world the shaman may ask for specific animals to be sacrificed in order to satisfy the spirit who are accountable for the evil and illness.
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about Health Care and Hmong Culture

The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay

Anne Faidman’s novel The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a narrative of an unfortunate, yet all too real incident of culture clash and western medicine. The novel follows the Lees, a Hmong family, who were displaced from their lives in Vietnam and move to Merced, California. Lia, the second youngest daughter of the Lee’s has what the Hmong call “qaug dab peg” which means “the spirit catches you and you fall down” or in western medicine what is known as epilepsy (Faidman 20). The novel provides…

Words 1568 - Pages 7

High Velocity Transcortical Lead Therapy

As a health care professional, doctors and other medical staffs were trained to listen and help the patients in various ways, explain the treatments and try to promote health in the general population. But why did the doctors and medical staffs in MCMC get so annoyed and frustrated by the Hmong’s patients? And since America was a diverse country, did the medical frustrations describe in the chapter happen every day and everywhere throughout the country? The title “high velocity transcortical lead…

Words 816 - Pages 4

Ethical Dilemmas In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

that exists between the Hmong people and the people treating them. Even if they were able to communicate effectively, there were many differences in opinions that would have caused problems. Eshiett and Parry (2003) believed the behavior of healthcare professionals towards those of a different culture could lead to feeling of discrimination and a lack of sympathy, causing a separation to develop. This was apparent in Lia’s case. What the Hmong people saw as taking care of their loved ones is considered…

Words 398 - Pages 2

Hmong Community Logic Model

The Hmong community in general possesses a high level of distrust for traditional healthcare; its practices and practitioners. In an effort to eliminate the barriers between the community and healthcare system; this document will identify a program structure that will begin to address and over time reduce the barriers in order to assure collaborative efforts between the community and the healthcare system. The program will seek to improve the relationships in the community by providing cultural competence…

Words 982 - Pages 4

Culture Health Beliefs Essay

Why are Culture Health Beliefs so Important in a Health Care Setting? Why are Culture Beliefs so Important in a Health Care Setting? There are many cultures out in the world today that practice beliefs different than those in the United States. America is based off Western Culture and traditional medicine practices which focus on preventative and curative medicine. Most cultures around the world practice folk medicine, which focus more on the person as a whole with remedies and ceremonies rather…

Words 1611 - Pages 7

Module 3 Learning Goal Analysis

Identify strategies to be culturally sensitive and competent with diverse patients. 2. Expand my knowledge of various minority cultures & their healthcare beliefs- Hmong, Latino. 3. Identify strategies to communicate with diverse patients and ensure informed consent and understanding. Goal number two was the easiest to achieve because I read a book about when Hmong culture clashed with Western medicine: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. I also learned about numerous other demographics from…

Words 818 - Pages 4

Essay On The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

and change was a quick solution. The Hmong families during the Vietnam War were being forced out of their homes to escape persecution and others just relocated to the United States. The change made them face slander, violence and the high rates of un-employment. Unaware of their involvement in the war their neighbors resented them and the help they received. In the Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, Fadiman expresses the life of the Hmong people’s tragedies and illustrated a…

Words 1229 - Pages 5

Quag Dab Peg Essay

. The Hmong regard qaug dab peg in two seemingly opposing ways. Explain how Hmong view qaug dab peg as both a dangerous condition and an illness of distinction. Quag dab peg is regarded in two seemingly conflicting ways. On one hand, the condition is recognized as having a potential danger attached to its diagnosis. It is seen as a serious enough condition that when a popular figure of the Hmong was discovered to have the ailment, some of the Hmong men expressed their concerned by offering a sacrifices…

Words 1225 - Pages 5

The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Analysis

patients are treated and has made breakthroughs in curing diseases. These accomplishments, however, did not come without their failures, as seen in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. The story details the life of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with epilepsy but her family, refugeed from Thailand, runs blindly into the stubborn American medical system—an experience made worse as the parents do not speak an English. Through taking the Christian perspective in our obligation…

Words 1102 - Pages 5

Essay about Immigration: Culture and Different Cultures

If society and culture comprise the foundation, lumber, mortar, and brick that form a person’s worldview, and then self-view, is the blueprint (Schmidt, pg. 23). In theory, a person’s self-concept consists of countless perceptions incorporated into a unique understanding of oneself and the surrounding world (Schmidt, pg. 23). After watching the Frontline video The Daring Lesson, racism, prejudice, discrimination and segregation can be influence at a young age. In this video the teacher use her…

Words 400 - Pages 2