Reflection
Before I took this class I feel that I already had a high level of compassion and ability to empathize with others, but learning about medical anthropology made my thoughts more refined and critical. I did feel that medicine was the epitome of scientific practice but this course has told me that it is far more complicated than that, and medicine still has a long way to go before each person can be treated with a “recipe”. Treatment outcomes are heavily related to cultural beliefs and expectations, but the biomedical way of though doesn’t really capture this fact like medical anthropology does.
Every anthropological approach has aspects that will be helpful in my future, but I think the experiential and critical approach are the ones that I appreciate above the others (and the ones most like the way I think). The classic anthropologist method of case studies and interviews is akin to taking a thorough medical history, although in many respects it is more in-depth. I hope to embrace a more personal and compassionate style when interacting with patients in order to build a good relationship and provide treatment that is rooted in my understanding of what the patient is experiencing and expects to be done. The critical approach interests me because it is the most objective anthropological lens.
The most surprising thing I learned in this class was regarding the placebo effect. I’ve known about it for a while, especially when it comes to antidepressants. But in “Placebo: Cracking the Code”, they showed one instance of how a sham treatment of arthroscopic knee surgery yielding positive results equivalent to actual arthroscopic knee surgery. Medicines have so many biochemical reactions within the human body and everyone is different – so it makes sense for there to be such a wide range of outcomes. Surgery always seemed to be “cut and dry” and most importantly, effective. The placebo effect also raises an interesting moral dilemma, is it proper to prescribe a drug if the majority of the effect is due to placebo? How would you know?
I think the Frontline series by PBS has a lot of very good documentaries that are pertinent to medical anthropology, one that I recently watched is “Reconstructing Haiti” which talks about how rebuilding post-earthquake has been going. Sicko directed by Micheal Moore talks about different health care systems around the world, although some of the things he says should be taken with a grain of salt, it is entertaining and informative. Finally, Dr. Gabor Mate’s book about his experience working with addicts and his own addictive behaviors, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts, is very anthropological in nature.
I would describe medical anthropology to someone who hadn’t heard of the field as adding humanity to science. Humans are always looking for black and white distinctions, but in reality that isn’t how life works. The same applies to science, and medicine still has a long way to go before it can say it’s one of the “purest” sciences.
Bibliography
Humphrey, Nicholas. "Placebo: Cracking the Code" Recorded November 05 2011. Web, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbQnMvhQFw.
Moore, Micheal. "Sicko." Dog Eat Dog Films 2007. DVD
Lyman, Will, "The Quake," Frontline, Web, http://video.pbs.org/video/1456461314/.
Before I took this class I feel that I already had a high level of compassion and ability to empathize with others, but learning about medical anthropology made my thoughts more refined and critical. I did feel that medicine was the epitome of scientific practice but this course has told me that it is far more complicated than that, and medicine still has a long way to go before each person can be treated with a “recipe”. Treatment outcomes are heavily related to cultural beliefs and expectations, but the biomedical way of though doesn’t really capture this fact like medical anthropology does.
Every anthropological approach has aspects that will be helpful in my future, but I think the experiential and critical approach are the ones that I appreciate above the others (and the ones most like the way I think). The classic anthropologist method of case studies and interviews is akin to taking a thorough medical history, although in many respects it is more in-depth. I hope to embrace a more personal and compassionate style when interacting with patients in order to build a good relationship and provide treatment that is rooted in my understanding of what the patient is experiencing and expects to be done. The critical approach interests me because it is the most objective anthropological lens.
The most surprising thing I learned in this class was regarding the placebo effect. I’ve known about it for a while, especially when it comes to antidepressants. But in “Placebo: Cracking the Code”, they showed one instance of how a sham treatment of arthroscopic knee surgery yielding positive results equivalent to actual arthroscopic knee surgery. Medicines have so many biochemical reactions within the human body and everyone is different – so it makes sense for there to be such a wide range of outcomes. Surgery always seemed to be “cut and dry” and most importantly, effective. The placebo effect also raises an interesting moral dilemma, is it proper to prescribe a drug if the majority of the effect is due to placebo? How would you know?
I think the Frontline series by PBS has a lot of very good documentaries that are pertinent to medical anthropology, one that I recently watched is “Reconstructing Haiti” which talks about how rebuilding post-earthquake has been going. Sicko directed by Micheal Moore talks about different health care systems around the world, although some of the things he says should be taken with a grain of salt, it is entertaining and informative. Finally, Dr. Gabor Mate’s book about his experience working with addicts and his own addictive behaviors, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts, is very anthropological in nature.
I would describe medical anthropology to someone who hadn’t heard of the field as adding humanity to science. Humans are always looking for black and white distinctions, but in reality that isn’t how life works. The same applies to science, and medicine still has a long way to go before it can say it’s one of the “purest” sciences.
Bibliography
Humphrey, Nicholas. "Placebo: Cracking the Code" Recorded November 05 2011. Web, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbQnMvhQFw.
Moore, Micheal. "Sicko." Dog Eat Dog Films 2007. DVD
Lyman, Will, "The Quake," Frontline, Web, http://video.pbs.org/video/1456461314/.