Thursday, February 22, 2024

Spirit Medicine

 TYPES OF SPIRIT


  • ANIMISM-belief in unique spirit beings which animate the world
  • SYMPATHETIC MAGIC
  • CONTAGIOUS MAGIC
  • ANIMITISM-belief in one force that animates the world
  • mantra: vital force (magic) of words
    • RITUAL in which magical and spiritual elements are invoked, relies on the POWERS OR PERSUASION, FELICITY and NORMATIVELY rather than requiring proof like in science.
MANA (Pacific Islands)
  • impersonal spiritual substance which may be present in all things (animalistic force), and which concentrates in persons of high social standing, who can share its powers and benefits with others.
  • grows with generosity and warfare
  • diminished through arrogance, anger and selfish deeds
ILLNESS AS RITES OF PASSAGE (Van Gennep)
  • sees severe illness as a transformative journey (especially for chronic, life threatening illnesses), where sufferers experience a deathlike loss of their former selves and then a transformed sense of self
  • change in spirit
ALTERED STATES
  • SHAMANS: purposely place themselves in altered states in order to bring healing and wisdom to their communities and the afflicted.
    • herbal medicines
    • magical incantations
    • readers the causes of misfortune
    • experiences
      • being pricked by needles Zambia
      • shook violently as you were undertaken by a spirit -nepal
      • visions and frightful dreams -soviet shaman
      • Hungary-postural trance with the use of drums to invoke healing
  • WITCHES & SORCERERS: dark/white magic
    • use the powers of nature
    • seek to cultivate the divine within
  • Most cultures to not embrace CARTESIAN DUALISM, the clear distinction between mind, body and soul. 
  • Understanding of the soul is diverse
    • ELIADE "techniques of ecstasy" (trance)
      • commonly interpreted as experiences of union with the divine, revelation or enlightenment
HYPNOSIS, SPIRITS & HEALING
    • Hypnosis gained popularity in the 18h century because of the work of Franz Anton Mesmer in France & James Braid (hypnotism)
    • value of mental creativity, ope and trust in these endeavors
    • Example:Marginalization of African Women and Spirt possession
      • in the ritual act of embodying spirits, women can challenge  patriarchal authority and traditional norms, behaving in ways commonly forbidden in "proper" society, bending gender roles and expectations, and resisting the pressures, demand and violence they encounter in everyday life.
    • PLACEBO EFFECT: the power of belief to induce positive changes
    Variety of Hallucinogens are used indigenously

    • Mecaline
    • mushrooms
    • Psilocybin 
    • LSD
    Active Ingredients:

    • similar to neurotransmitters in the human body. 
    • therapist or shaman acts as a GUIDE to help the patient integrate the experiences within the larger life context
    • uses ritual, mythic, and symbolic elements to change the patient's awareness of self and break up habitual experiences of the world (become more suggestible)
    WINKELMAN: Therapeutic uses for hallucinogens:
    • effecting neural, sensory, emotional, and cognitive processes
    • can be effective in treating ADDICTIONS due to their ability to induce the RELAXATION RESPONSE, enhance THETA WAVE PRODUCTION, and stimulate endogenous opted and sterotogenic mechanisms and their MOOD ELEVATING effects.
      • shamanic drumming approach to treating addictions 
    FAITH HEALING
    • ritual healing and religious pilgrimage
    • COMMUNITAS: collective consciousness which emerges during religious ritual, infusing the community with power and solidarity
    • health and longevity benefits of social involvement
    • ECSTACY/ENSTACY: (Eliade) Ritual offers humans the opportunity to renew themselves and the world around them by uniting with the divine through ritual action
      • example: girls puberty rituals as healing among the Apache
    • PILGRIMAGE (Turner): pilgrimage is a breach of time and space
      • when social order is temporarily suspended or challenged-possibility for great change-personal and communal.
      • LIMINALITY: socially ambiguous states often incorporating hardships or chjallenges into transitions
        • exorcism
        • pilgrimage (extended period of liminality)-Vietnam War to the Wall, Hajj to Mecca (path of Mohammed), Kumbh Mela (Allabbad), Lourdes---
          • identity differennces suspended, communitas, modifications of perceptions & consciousness, possibility of transformation & healing
          • sickness=sin: cure is to be "touched" by sacred-object, person, place
            • healing restored or enhanced social status
            • suffering is remade into a meaningful and powerful narrative in culture
            • miracles
        • vision quest
        • sweat lodge
        • drum circle
      • ritual has the potential to rejuvenate self and society

    Vital Forces and Medicine

     VITAL FORCES:


    Throughout various cultures the concept of substances which ebb and flow as a consequence of life forces are described and managed to maximize the health and well-being of communities and individuals. These competing forces necessarily interact in the human body (microcosm) and in the universe (macrocosm)
    • Ndembu (Turner): describes three forces
      • white rivers (milk & semen)
      • red rivers (blood and loss of blood-particularly menstruation)
      • black rivers (death, waste, decay)
    • Flow, Fluidity and Flux are important processes for health & healing in African cultures, Papua New Guinea, India, China and ancient Greece.
      • based on the belief that the flow of substances in the natural environment and the human body is needed for survival, wellness and healing.
      •  Harm comes from the stoppage of this flow or "flooding"
      • path to longevity is the MIDDLE WAY
      • modern medicine : "homeostasis" (state of internal balance attained by living things regulating their physiological processes-sweating on a hot day, restricting capillaries when it is cold)
    • HUMORS (vital fluids that a culture recognizes are fundamental aspects of life)
      • must be kept in balance (often by consuming certain foods and liquids)
      • notions of hot/cold/cool are key to understanding humoral activity-as are Wet/Dry
      • activities, weather changes, emotions all can deplete or restore vital fluids
        • MELPA (png): 2 humors (blood & grease)-form two separate but interconnected sources of vitality which must flow freely and be exchanged appropriately for health & harmony to be maintained.
          • can be depleted in people and communities
            • a man uses up his grease through intercourse, a woman through regnancy and breastfeeding-must be replenished by consuming pork fat and juicy vegetables
            • optimal conditions for health are found in balancing the "hot" and "cold" in "cool" (fair minded-cool- actions of a chief provide grease for the community, eg)
            • pigs are exchanged between families to restore group harmony
      • The flow of drinks, food, gifts and commodities and the essential and complex functions of these circulations establish and maintain strong social bonds in all cultures and societies.
        • KULA RING (ti)
        • MAWRI (Niger): the health of a market depends on the the presence of "spirits" who protect it and animate it by their presence. The flow of material and spiritual gives RAI (life) to the market.
        • INTERNET (markets) need "traffic" to be healthy in this same way.
    • INFORMATION TRANSMISSION:
      • in small scale, mostly oral societies, information was transmitted traditionally for elders and ritual specialists to their apprentices. This mostly took the form of valuable CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE and ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE.
      • these traditional flows of information have been supplanted by formally trained professionals, mass media, and the internet in modern times
      • instead of learning from their mothers and grandmothers, women are turning to lactation specialists, books, websites etc in order to gather information about breastfeeding and childcare (ie)
      • RUMORS:
        • The developing world, health and illness
          • subject to rumors which reflect the INEQUALITY of access to QOL.
            • high quality, high tech medicine is unaffordable and a tightly guarded resource accessible only to the rich (small portion of the population)
            • the world in which poor people live is composed of alternative opportunities and risks which they are unable to control-why RUMORS are so powerful (reflects the feelings of COMMODIFICATION OF THE BODY)
              • organ stealing (all over)
              • kidnapping (Guatemala)
              • poisoning with vaccines
              • commodification of the body of the poor for the rich through western medicine (can the POOR really be said to "donate"?)
                • organ transplantation (DONATION)
                  • there is a global shortage in all human tissues and a "wait list"
                    • cultural construction created because of a number of factors including denial of death, biotechnological progress and social inequality
                  • poor people are fearful that their death will be hastened or provoked (flow of organs goes from poor to wealthy transnationally-Nancy Scheper-Hughes & margaret Lock)
                  • see themselves as a collection of spare parts
                • stem cells (LACKS cells)
                • surrogate mothers
                • adoption
                • fertility
                  • donated egg/sperm
                • research subjects as human guinea pigs
                • blood banks (DONATION?)
                  • a woman donating twice a week in central Mexico may earn more than her husband
                • hair (Hindu pilgrims to the Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh donate their hair to Vankateswara-sold for millions of dollars annually for hair weaves in the West)-REMY HAIR
    WATER: VITALITY & CONTAMINATION
    • Bodies of water (Nile, Euphrates, Ganes & Jordon Rivers) are considered SACRED
      • purification by babtism (Christian)
      • holy well visitations in Ireland (cures a variety of illnesses including headaches, abdominal pain, warts, whooping cough, sore throats & eye problems).
    • Water can be used for HEALING and RITUAL PURIFICATION in many cultures
      • Hippocrates: baths for healin
      • Judaism: Mikvah for purification
      • Public Mineral baths : japan, Rome, Turkey-important part of social and cultural life
      • Rainmaking rituals : Egypt, Native Americans, Rural Romania (Parapuda)
    • Water is a great FORCE OF NATURE (may be unpredictable & uncontrollable)
      • floods, storms, drowning, sunami
      • contamination and carrier of disease (typhus, yellow fever, parasites, environmental toxins & bacteria)
      • modern fact: shortage of clean drinking water
      • Apache: White Painted Woman-culture hero emerges from water
      • women are often associated with water and cycles of the moon that are connected to the movement of tides and cycles of fertility. 
        • female water spirits are the source of danger and disease in many cultures-particularly for men (Mermaids)
        • MAMI WATA: female serpent deity found throughout the African diaspora-giver of prosperity beautiful but also life-threatening
    • Water in HUMORAL SYSTEMS
      • commonly seen as an element in wet/dry dyad that needs to remain balanced
        • Chinese medicine
          • associated with the yin/yang principle
            • YIN: contractive, centripedal, responsive, positive, cold, wet, female)
            • YANG: expansive, centrifugal, demanding, negative, hot, dry, male)
            • health: life force (qi/ki/chi) must be allowed to flow unimpeded or restored through various therapeutic methods, especially foods and herbs, but also acupuncture. 
            • yin and yang are integrated. they contain a seed of eachother, and the whole is essentiial
    • Feng Shui: Spaces and interiors can also be imbalanced and effect health. Uses colors and objects along with laying out interiors according to the cardinal directions to create greater harmony, health and prosperity).
      • the human being is an integral part of nature and subject to the same natural laws
    • Ayurveda
    • Islamic Humoralism
    • Greek humoralism
    • FOUCAULT (Water and Medical Treatment)
      • several mental illnesses were treated with water immersion and showers in the 18th century in France
    • cold water (hydrotherapy)England
    MODERN PRACTICES
    HOMEOPATHY:
    • Homeopathy was a flourishing practice originating in 19th century Europe and gaining international scope, especially in India where it has many affinities to Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine)
    • founded by German physician SAMUEL HAHNEMANN it provided a gentle alternative to "heroic" medical practices of the day
    • Medical material: thousands of substances from plant, animal, mineral and even disease sources which are diluted until virtually undetectable. The more the remedy has been diluted, the longer and deeper it acts and fewer doses are required
    • The physician chooses the remedies that mirror the symptoms experienced by the sufferer, aiding the healing process rather than suppressing the symptoms.
    • key principle/techniques:
      • principle of similars (like cures like)
      • principle of infinitesimals (greater dilutions have deeper effects)
      • techniques of preparation:
        • potentization (multiple dilutions)
        • succession (firm striking of the vial against a leather pad or palm of ones hand)
        • WATER is used to DILUTE the active ingredient multiple times until only the energetic signature or "memory" of the original substance remains in the fluid. For solid preparations, lactose is used.
    • Administered based on CONSTITUTION (body type)
      • determined through an elaborate interview based on a person's physical, emotional, mental and social experiences
    • PURPOSE: TO RESTORE THE vital force (energetic and informational)-based on the understanding that WATER, plants, animals, minerals, chemical substances, textures, colors, sounds, behaviors, thoughts, emotions and life circumstances are complexly intertwined through webs of homeopathic relationships
    • REMEDIES: (can make their own remedy out of any substance)
      • minerals
      • plants
      • animals
     ENERGY, LIFE-FORCE & THE POWER OF THE SUN
    • VITAL FORE?ENERGY plays a key role in tradional and alternative medicine
      • Qi -Japanese medicine
      • Prana-Ayurveda
      • Ki-Korean Humoral medicine
      • Chi-Chinese medicine
    • traditional notions of the sun include the divine giver of life
      • positive benefits include vitamin D absorption, bone development, bone pain, and bone loss.
        • epidemic low levels in northern hemisphere
        • MS? Autism? internal cancers? (more common in Norther latitudes)
      • versus skin cancer and other negative effects (Western)
    • SUNLIGHT VITAMIN is highly contested in Western medicine
    COSMIC ENERGY & MATTER
    • only acknowledged this relationship in the West since Einstein (E-MC2 )
    • Recognized in many traditional cultures & healing traditions
      • KUNG! San of sub-Saharan Africa---30,000BP
      • Indian Ayurveda  (Chakras)--4000BC
    • Energy manifests itself in many forms and can be seen in ENERGY MEDICINE
      • where energy loss manifests as illness, practitioners will use various methods to restore balance, store, or replenish the energy of a person, particular organs, or unblock energy flow using particular points and channels of the patient's body.
      • Energy medicine is seen with suspicion in the West-hard to substanciate, measure & explain with "science"
        • Reiki
        • chakra balancing
        • thai massage "heated hands"
    NOURISHMENT & HEALING
    • much of what is promoted as cutting edge alternative medicine in terms of the relationship between what is consumed and health, is elsewhere time tested ancient knowledge
      • KUNG!-highly variant/diverse diet-105 edible plants consumed regularly
      • INUIT- oily sea mammal protien (Omega 3)
    • Nutricional variety decreases while chronic and epidemic illnesses become increasinglycommon as FOOD PRODUCTION and ANIMAL DOMESTICATION become widespread-10,000 BP
      • food producers claimed more fertile areas and hunters and gatherers were marginalized.
      • worst mistake in human history???
        • sanitation issues with sedintary life and growing populations
        • crowd/communicable diseases
        • lowered nutritional value of domesticates
        • decreasing variety in diet to reliance on monocrop
          • poor nutricion
          • chance of starvation from famine/blight
    •  Industrialization initially brings improvement in the flow in of resources and out of waste 
      • decreases in child mortality and increased life expectancy and reduced birth rates
      • followed by increases in "DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION" 
        • diabetes, asthma, allergies, auto-immune disporders
        • bacteria resistant viruses, particularly among marginalized & institutionalized populations
        • market capitalism creates increased social inequality
          • processed high fat and carb foods
          • increased low wage labor
          • subject to resistant diseases
    • Dietary choices are not easily changed for they mark group identity (ethnicity), being in a special state (pregnancy), or a particular kind of relationship (Shabbat, Passover, Communion)
      • take advantage of all that is available in an indigenous environment
      • tend to be nutrious and balanced dites
      • may require ample processing to remove toxins, etc.
        • bitter manioc
        • blow fish
        • drying, smoking (less perishable)
    • All cultures have TABOO FOODS
      • pregnancy
      • kosher rules (contaminated pork)
        • Mary Douglas -animals that did not fit into per-existing categories
        • marvin harris- pigs not suited to living in arid environments-do not sweat
      • Brahmanic vegetarianism (sacred cow)
        • Marvin Harris-need for protection of oxen for draft animals
    • Colonialization and Westernization lead to the replacement of local food sources and traditions with imported Western-made or Western-style items like macaroni, sodas, and potato chips, while local plant relaxants and beverages supplanted by cigarettes and alcohol.
      • native modes of subsistence are threatened by property lines (land rights)
      • epidemics (sedentary living-reservations)
      • industrial pollution
      • factory/wage labor
      • conflict in values
    FOOD MOVEMENTS IN THE USA
    • date back to 1910(discovery of vitamins)
    • 1940 food rules and pyramid established
    • counter cultural movements of the 1960s-ALTERNATIVE CONSUMPTION MOVEMENTS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD- against fast-food corporate food culture
      • raw foodists
      • health food movement
      • organic food movement
      • no GMO movement
      • veganism/vegitarianism
        • ecological, humane, health, spiritual
      • gluten-free
      • slow food
      • freegans
        • zero carbon footprint-avoid purchase-dumpster diving
      • locovores--promote local "artisinal" producers, promote sustainability
      • permaculture
        • humans need to return to growing their own food-create sustainable designs for living and food production---heal the earth
        • urban gardens & green spaces, self-sufficiency
        • vertical gardens and "green walls
    • HUMERAL MEDICINE & TRADITIONAL FOODS
      • food as medicine
      • FOUR HUMORS of ancient Greeks were forces which needed to be kept in balance and proportion for health to be maintained or restpred. these forces were connected with bodily fluids, times of day, seasons, stages of life and personality traits
        •  EARTH-mucus, phlegm, night, winter, 
        • AIR-black bile, melancholy, evening, autumn, late middle age
        • WATER-blood, morning, spring, childhood, youth
        • FIRE-yellow bile, mid-day, summer, adulthood
      • TASTES and FOOD
        • childhood, safe foods...salty & sweet
        • bitterness commonly associated with medicinal properties
        • SPICES: antimicrobial properties (hot climates, meat dishes)
        • Fermented foods: probiotic-antimicrobial effects-fight cancer, most are inedible if unfermented
        • raw, unpasteurized food provide important microbes


      • Case Study: ELTA (Romania)
        • promotes raw, lacto-vegitarian, locally grown diet believed to be essential for spiritual growth, social healing & human evolution.
        • people are sickened and anesthetized by modern life & diet regimen cures modernity
          • healing movements seem most prevalent when people feel lost, dislocated or in times accelerated social change or upheaval.
          • utopian communal groups
          • critical view of society is characterized in a demanding regimen, charismatic leader, messianic ideals, apocalyptic interpretation of current history-replaced by a community of the awakened.


    Body, Movement, and Medicine

     THOMAS CSORDAS "the body is not an OBJECT to be studied in relation to culture, but is to be considered as the SUBJECT of culture, or in other words, the existential ground of culture".


    • eliminates the Platonic distinction between MIND & BODY (dualism)
    • MONISM: The body is the place where all understanding happens-culture is interpreted through the body. no distinction between mind and body.
    • an infants growth into a social person happens through gradual experience, by taking in tastes, touching the textures, inhaling the smalls, viewing the sights, and walking the walks of the world into which we are born. We are the sum total of these continuing experiences.
    SYNESTHESIA: Looking at the senses and healing
    • Ability to experience one sense as another
      • SESELELAME (Anlo)-sense awareness that straddles the supposed divide between cognitive perception, and physical sensation: hearing, tasting, smelling, understanding, obeying, sexual arousal, heartache, passion, inspiration to dance or spaek, tingling of the skin that indicates impending illness. ---synesthetic "metasense"---very different from the organ based 5 senses of Western culture
      • Mechanisms the cultures use to identify sensory input:
        • ATTENTION: focuses on a particular sensation in an area of the body
        • ANXIETY & DEPRESSION: causes increased brain reactivity to stimuli & changes in the autonomic nervous system which may produce things like cold extremities
        • CULTURAL SYNDROMES: culturally specific patterns of distress (ethnic psychoses)
        • ETHNOPHYSIOLOGY: local concepts and concerns about organs and body processes
        • EXTERNAL STIMULI: sensitivity to particular sensory imputs based on the meaning attributed to the stimulus and its relation to the state of the operson
        • IMAGINATION: flashbacks, attention, anxiety
        • METAPHOR: inducing sensations by metaphorical means
        • SELF-IMAGE: sensations feeding into particular self-images
        • SENSATION KINDLING: repeated experiencing  which creates sensitive circuits for experience
        • TRAUMATIC MEMORY: evocation, somatic flashbacks, etc
      • Healing can take place through these mechanisms as well because sensations are KEY SITES for these processes
    • Birth Stories & cultural ideas influence women's birth experiences of pain
      • embrace pain or reject pain or fear pain
    Smell & Taste
    • we are accustomed to our own smells, but reject or find foul or indicative of disease the smells of others who are unfamiliar
      • women- low status will me that their smells are vilified or indicative of disease
        • Puta (spanish) means putrid (comment of sexual behavior as well as smell)
      • Western culture attempts to remove all bodily odors
      • plants herbs and spices may also be seen as intolerable
    • Senses inform us about threats and boundaries and smells are among the most powerful triggers of emotion, desire and repulsion
      • "taste" is about social class as well as the sensations gotten from the tongue
      • roles in safety from poisons
      • role in learning and memory
      • eating and drinking as fundamental social activities
      • restrained by rules and taboos
    TACTILE EXPERIENCES

    • healing benefits of skin to skin contact
      • ICU and neonatal units
      • cortisol decrease (stress hormone) with touch-based therapies
      • manual medicine (osteopathy & chiropractic)-no longer alternative?
      • healing touch (HT) channeling energy healing through the hands
        • magnets
        • crystals,
        • electrical, ultrasound stimulation
        • hands
        • oils
      • therapeutic touch (TT): healers become empowered ans sensitized to their bodily perceptions through CENTERING and energy manipulation (smoothing and ruffling of fields).
      • Reiki
      • SHIATZU (Japan)
        • relief from illness encompasses both resolution of SOCIAL DISHARMONY and BODILY HOLISM-attention to diet & well-being
        • embodied confluence (blurs bodily boundaries between practitioner and patient)
    RHYTHM, MOVEMENT & MUSIC
    • Sound therapies
      • swaddling and body contact enable babies to feel the rhythms of others
      • vibrations are soothing
      • music is cathartic, evocative-peak emotion
      • sound healing in nada yoga
    • Rhythm therapies
      • repetitive sounds
      • drum circles
      • rhythmic dance-emotional release=CATHARSIS
        • dance therapies: combination of breath, sound and movement
        • hatha yoga(mindful movement)
        • Tai Chi
        • qigong
        • nia
      • RAGA: music and mood in Hindu-used as homeopathic remedies
        • OM (theosis-personal communion with the divine)
    HEALING RAGAS LECTURE



    AROMATHERAPY & ART

    • mid-twentieth century invention in its modern form
    • uses scents to heals because of their inherent properties and has been incorporated into integrative techniques in Western medicine
    • becoming a GLOBAL INDUSTRY (Auracare, ie)

    ESSENTIAL OILS AGAINST VIRUS, BACTERIA AND FUNGUS
    A landmark study on the broad antiviral effects of essential oils and their components was presented at the 1st Wholistic and Scientific Conference on the Therapeutic Uses of Essentials Oils, 1995.  In this study, the broad spectrum of activity of essential oils for conditions of the upper respiratory tract, skin, gastrointestinal tract, urogenital tract, nervousness, and arterial conditions were demonstrated. An overview of the antibacterial and antifungal effectiveness of essential oils was given also.  There are many other countries that are researching essential oils against these "incureable" diseases. I applaud their actions. Information is on websites around the world.
    It is known that a body can't become "habituated" to essential oils. The results remain the same; they do not lessen over any length of time. On the other hand, the organism does become habituated to chemically synthesised narcotics, and the result is known as tolerance. One may start out by taking a single sleeping pill , before long one may well have reached the stage of taking anything from four to ten pills and still be unable to get to sleep.
    Essenial Oils and Their Uses
    Allspice (Pimento) - Scent: Clove. Traditional uses: Warming to the body, reduces stress, calming, relaxes tight muscles, lessens pain, mood uplifting, vapors help breathing, improves digestion, disinfectant.
    Anise - Scent: Licorice. Traditional uses: Calming, lessens pain, aphrodisiac, promotes restful sleep, vapors help breathing, improves digestion, increases appetite, stimulates lactation in nursing mothers.
    Basil  (Sweet) -  Scent: slightly licorice. Traditional uses: to brighten mood, strengthen nervous system, improve mental clarity and memory, for relieving headache and sinusitis. Avoid during pregnancy.
    Bay Laurel - Scent: strong, sweet-spicy. Traditional uses: as an immune system stimulant, to regulate the lymphatic system, for relieving melancholy, anxiety, to stimulate the mind, for healing bronchitis, sinus infection. Avoid during pregnancy. Do not over-use.
    Bergamot - Scent: sweet & fruity. Documented in old herbal texts. Traditional uses: balancing nervous system, relieving anxiety and stress, lifting melancholy, for restful sleep, antiviral, cold sores, psoriasis, eczema and insect repellent. Bergamot may cause skin sensitivity to bright sunlight.
    Birch - Scent: sweet-woody, wintergreen-like. Used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and astringent.
    Cajeput - Scent: camphor. Traditional uses: Slightly warming to the body, calming, relaxes tight muscles, relieves muscle aches and pains, promotes restful sleep, breaks up congestion, vapors help breathing, disinfectant, repels insects.
    Camphor - Scent: sharp, pungent. Traditional uses: skin care, relieves pain, coughs, colds, fever, flu, infectious diseases.
    Carrot Seed - Scent: warm, woody-earthy.  Used extensively in skin and facial care for mature skin, circulation problems and PMS symptoms.
    Cedarwood - Scent: woody. Cedarwood was believed to have been used extensively by the Egyptians in cosmetics, perfume and medicine. Traditional uses: to relax tense muscles, calm emotions, help breathing, for enhancing meditation, easing pain, repelling insects, for hair loss. Avoid during pregnancy.
    (German) Chamomile - Scent: strong, sweet, warm-herbaceous. Blue in color. German Chamomile has many of the same properties as Roman Chamomile. But, with a much higher azulene content its anti-inflammatory actions are greater. Traditional uses: to relieve muscular pain, to heal skin inflammations, acne and wounds, as a sedative, to ease anxiety and nervous tension, to help with sleeplessness. May cause skin reactions in some people.
    (Roman) Chamomile - Scent: sweet and fruity. Traditional uses: to relieve muscular pain, as a sedative, ease anxiety and nervous tension, to help with sleeplessness.
    Cinnamon - Scent: cinnamon. Traditional uses: warming to body, relaxes tight muscles, lessens pain, mood uplifting, aphrodisiac, helps relieve fatigue, improves digestion, increases appetite, helps reduce cellulite deposits, disinfectant, repels insects.
    Citronella - Scent: fresh grassy-woody. Traditional Chinese medicine currently uses this herb for rheumatic pain. Traditional uses: as a mosquito repellent, for colds, flu and neuralgia, to relieve pain of rheumatism and arthritis, melancholy. Avoid using on sensitive or damaged skin.
    Clary Sage - Scent: spicy, hay-like. It has been called "clear eye" and was used for healing eye problems in times past. Traditional uses: relieving stress and tension, lifting melancholy, easing pain, restful sleep, as an aphrodisiac; contains estrogen-like hormone, for menopause and PMS, relieving nervous exhaustion. Avoid during pregnancy, or if you have endometriosis, breast, ovarian and uterine cysts and other estrogen dependant conditions (cancer).
    Clove Bud - Scent: spicy, fruity, warm and sweet. Traditional uses: for toothache, colds, flu and fungal infections, as a mosquito repellent, to relieve fatigue and melancholy, as an aphrodisiac. Not used on damaged or sensitive skin. Use in moderation.
    Cypress - Scent: spicy, refreshing pine-needle. Cypress incense is used today by Tibetans for purification. Traditional uses: to increase circulation, relieve muscular cramps, bronchitis, whooping cough and painful periods; reduce nervous tension and other stress related problems, as an immune stimulant. Avoid during pregnancy, have high blood pressure, cancer or uterine and breast fibrosis.
    Elemi – Scent:  resinous, pungent aromatic. Egyptians used this aromatic oil in the embalming process.  Excellent essential oil for the respiratory system; helps coughs to be more productive. Great for cuts and inflammation; aged or wrinkled skin, calming for nervous tension and stress.
    Eucalyptus - Scent: strong camphorous. odor. Aborigines have used eucalyptus leaves to remedy many ills. Traditional uses: for colds, as a decongestant, to relieve asthma and fevers, for its bactericidal and anti-viral actions, to ease aching joints. 
    Fennel - Scent: earthy-peppery. Traditional uses: for neuro-muscular spasms, rheumatism and arthritis; bronchitis, whooping cough, as a nerve tonic in relieving stress and nervous tension. Use in moderation. Avoid if you are pregnant or have epilepsy.
    Balsam Fir - Scent: fresh balsamic. Traditional uses: to relieve muscle aches and pains, for relieving anxiety and stress related conditions, to fight colds, flu and infections, for relieving bronchitis and coughs. Said to ground one mentally.
    Frankincense - Scent: spicy, balsamic. Frankincense was known as one of the most precious substances to ancient man and is associated with religious practice. Traditional uses: to calm, enhance meditation, elevate mind and spirit, help breathing,  for care of mature skin and scars.
    Galbanum - Used in incense. In Egypt used in cosmetic & embalming. Traditional uses: treating wounds, infections and skin disorders, expectorant in chronic bronchitis, insect repellent.
    Geranium - Scent: leafy rose. Geranium has been long revered for its fragrance. Traditional uses: reducing stress and tension, easing pain, balancing emotions and hormones, PMS, relieve fatigue and nervous exhaustion, to lift melancholy, lessen fluid retention, repel insects.
    Ginger - Scent: warm, spicy-woodsy. Ginger has been used as a healing remedy for thousands of years. Traditional uses: reducing muscular aches and pains, increasing circulation, relieving bronchitis and whooping cough, nervous exhaustion, in healing colds flu and fever and to stimulate appetite.
    Grapefruit - Scent: fresh, sweet, citrus. Some traditional uses: to lift melancholy, relieve muscle fatigue, as an astringent for oily skin, to refresh and energize the body, stimulate detoxification, as an airborne disinfectant.
    Helichrysum - Scent: intense, honey, tea-like. Some traditional uses: to heal bruises (internal and external), wounds and scars, to detoxify the body, cleanse the blood and increase lymphatic drainage, for healing colds, flu, sinusitis and bronchitis, to relieve melancholy, migraines, stress and tension.
    Juniper Berry - Scent: pine-needle. Some traditional uses: to energize and relieve exhaustion, ease inflammation and spasms, for improving mental clarity and memory, purifying the body, to lessen fluid retention, for disinfecting. Avoid during pregnancy or if you have kidney disease.
    Lavender - Scent: sweet, fresh. Lavender has been used for centuries as a fragrance and a medicine. Some traditional uses: balancing emotions, relieving stress, tension and headache, to promote restful sleep, heal the skin, to lower high blood pressure, help breathing, for disinfecting.
    Lemon - Scent: fresh lemon. Lemon was used to prevent scurvy by our ancestors who traveled the seas. Some traditional uses: to balance the nervous system, as a disinfectant, to refresh and uplift, for purifying the body. May cause skin sensitivity to the sun or irritate sensitive skin.
    Lemongrass - Scent: powerful, lemon. There has been recent research in India which shows that lemongrass acts as sedative on the central nervous system. Some traditional uses: as an insect repellent and deodorizer, for athlete's foot, as a tissue toner, to relieve muscular pain (sports-muscle pain), increase circulation, for headaches, for nervous exhaustion and other stress related problems. Use with care and avoid in pregnancy.
    Lime - Cold pressed from the peel. Scent: fruity-lime. Some traditional uses: to purify the air, for alertness, to relieve coughs or congestion, for uplifting and cheering the spirit, to heal colds, flu or inflammations. Lime may cause skin sensitivity to bright sunlight.
    Mandarin - Scent: intensely sweet, floral citrus scent. Traditional uses: restlessness, insomnia, nervous tension, for children and pregnant women.
    Marjoram - Distilled from the leaves and flowering tops. Scent: warm & spicy. Sweet marjoram was used medicinally by Romans and ancient Greek physicians. Some traditional uses: to relax tense muscles and relieve spasms, calm and promote restful sleep, ease migraine headache, for comforting the heart, lowering high blood pressure, to help breathing, disinfecting. Avoid during pregnancy.
    Myrrh - Scent: sharp, warm balsamic. Some traditional uses: to heal wounds and nurture mature skin, for bronchitis and colds, to relieve apathy and calm. Avoid use on damaged or sensitive skin.
    Niaouli - Scent: fresh, camphoraceous. Traditional uses: skin care, muscle aches and pains, asthma and bronchitis, sore throat, colds, fever, flu.
    Nutmeg - Scent: spicy, nutmeg. Some traditional uses: for warming muscles, easing muscle aches and pains, to invigorate or stimulate the mind, an aphrodisiac, to stimulate heart and circulation, for relieving nervous fatigue. Avoid during pregnancy and use with care (can be moderately toxic if over-used.
    Orange - Scent: fruity, sweet. Orange trees were once rare and native only to China and India. Some traditional uses: to brighten mood, calm and reduce stress, as an environmental disinfectant.
    Oregano - Scent: spicy, warm herb. Some traditional uses: as a muscle relaxant and to ease muscle aches and pains, to heal colds, flu and bronchitis, as a stimulant, to energize the mind and body, and for relieving headaches. Avoid during pregnancy and with babies and children.
    Palmarosa - Scent: flora-rose. Palmarosa is used today in Ayurvedic medicine. Some traditional uses: stimulate cellular regeneration,  moisturize skin, for nervous exhaustion and stress conditions, to calm and uplift.
    Patchouli - Scent: musky, woody. Some traditional uses: for athlete's foot, as an aphrodisiac, to relieve stress and nervous exhaustion.
    Peppermint - Scent: strong mint. Herbalists in ancient Greece and Rome used peppermint for nearly every ailment. Some traditional uses: for energy, and brighter mood, reducing pain, to help breathing, improve mental clarity and memory. May irritate sensitive skin. Avoid during pregnancy.
    Petitgrain - Scent: sweet, woody-orange floral. Petitgrain was one of the ingredients of the original "eau-de-cologne". Some traditional uses: for relieving respiratory infections, to ease nervous tension muscle spasms, for relieving joint inflammation, to balance the central nervous system, for stress relief and restful sleep.
    Pine - Scent: strong, coniferous, woody. Native Americans placed dried pine needles in their mattresses to ward of lice and fleas. Some traditional uses: to ease breathing, as an immune system stimulant, to increase energy, for relieving muscle and joint aches, to repel lice and fleas. Avoid use if you have prostate cancer.
    Rosemary - Scent: camphor like. Some traditional uses: to energize, for muscle pains, cramps or sprains, brighten mood, for improving mental clarity and memory, easing pain, to relieve headaches, disinfecting. Avoid during pregnancy, if you have epilepsy or high blood pressure.
    Rosewood - Scent: slightly rosy. Some traditional uses: to relieve stress and balance the central nervous system, for easing jet lag, to create a calm for meditation, for easing colds and coughs, to stimulate the immune system, as an aphrodisiac and in skin care.
    Sage --  Scent: camphoraceous, pine-like. Skin care, circulation, muscles and joints, asthma, coughs, colds, fever, flu.
    Sandalwood - Scent: woody, balsamic. Sandalwood is believed to bring about calmness and serenity and is linked with incense and meditation. Some traditional uses: to lift melancholy, enhance meditation, heal the skin, help breathing, for calming and reducing stress, restful sleep, disinfecting, as an aphrodisiac.
    Spearmint - Scent: minty. Some traditional uses: for relieving bronchitis and sinusitis, to ease nausea and headaches, for relieving colds or flu, to stimulate, energize and relieve fatigue.
    Spruce -- Scent: sweet-fruity. Used for: muscular aches and pains, asthma, colds flu, infections, anxiety and stress-related conditions.
    Tangerine - Scent: sweet, citrus. Some traditional uses: for relieving muscle spasms, to soothe and calm nerves, for stress relief and relaxation, to stimulate the liver and increase lymphatic drainage. May cause skin sensitivity to bright sunlight.
    Tea-Tree - Scent: spicy, medicinal. Tea-tree is one of the most scientifically researched oils. Traditional uses: an immuno-stimulant particularly against bacteria, viruses and fungi, for relieving inflammation, as a disinfectant.
    Thyme - Scent: hot and spicy. Thyme was used by ancient Greeks to disinfect air and inhibit infectious diseases. Some traditional uses: To heal colds, bronchitis, for relieving muscle aches and pains, to aid concentration and memory, for relieving fatigue and said to heal anthrax. Avoid use if pregnant or with high blood pressure.
    Vetiver - Scent: heavy, woodsy, earthy. Some traditional uses: for muscular aches, to increase circulation, to relieve melancholy and nervous tension, for restful sleep.
    Yarrow -- Scent: slightly camphoraceous. Uses: acne, burns cuts, eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure.
    Ylang Ylang - Scent: exotic sweet floral. Some traditional uses: brightening mood, relieving anger and anxiety, relaxing tense muscles, to calm and promote restful sleep, lower high blood pressure, an aphrodisiac.
    Please note: This information is not intended to diagnose, or prescribe any form of treatment. The statements in this information have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products herein are not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and are meant solely for Aromatherapy purposes alone. If you are suffering from any illness or medical complaint, always first seek the advice of your physician.

    POLYTHETIC MEDICINE

    • CAM (complimentary and alternative medicine)

    What's So Alternative About Alternative Medicine?

     Why is there alternative medicine?



    • The view that biomedicine should be the only legitimate practice of healing has been challenged.
    • alternative healing is not a fashionable trend, it is a WELL-ESTABLISHED CULTURAL STRATEGY and a dynamic, heterogenous feature of most contemporary medical landscapes---a way that people seek to maximize their chances for wellbeing and adapt to the rapidly changing and unfavorable circumstances, by drawing on multiple sources and resources of knowledge and authority.
    • WHAT IS IT?-hard to define
      • there is such a variety of options which are quickly disseminated on the internet and an integration of various alternatives with biomedicine
      • ORTHODOX (biomedicine) defended from "heroic medicine " of the colonial era, which endorsed aggressive measures such as sweating, purging, and toxic drugs. It was in contrast to heterodox medicine "sects" which upheld the gentler methods and the view that healing involved the strengthening of ones VITAL FORCE and required more than just mechanistic interventions
        • homeopathy-
          • the treatment of disease by minute doses of natural substances (distillations) that in a healthy person would symptoms of disease
        • botanic medicine-
          • use of healing through plants and other natural compounds
        • osteopathy-
          • healing through the manipulation of the bones of the body.
        • hydropathy-
          • the treatment of illness through the use of water, internally and externally (baths, steams & spas)
        • chiropractic-
          • like osteopathy, but focusing on spinal misalignments
        • Christian Science-
          • sin and illness are illusions that can be overcome by prayer. refuse any other intervention
        • various folk medicines
      • The practice of alternative therapies has always been deeply rooted in in class and ethnic distinctions and relations, and therefore a highly political process
      • they have also become VENUES OF CULTURAL CRITICISM AND RESISTANCE and EMPOWERMENT in many parts of the world
      • What constitutes the mainstream at any one particular time may be questionable or alternative a century later
        • leeches
        • blood letting
        • electric shock
        • hysterectomy
        • zoo-therapies (Parasites ingested for Crohn's disease, e.g.)
        • saltwater rinses and gargles
        • neti pot or ear candeling
      • Practices that originate elsewhere until they become familiar are always alternative
        • Chinese medicine
        • acupuncture
      • DOUBLE-BLIND PLACEBO CONTROLLED MEDICAL TRIALS (gold standard for in Western medicine) are elaborate and expensive, so rarely available to prove the efficacy of alternative therapies
    • SO..."different from the usual or conventional: existing or functioning outside the established cultural, social, or economic system" ALTERNATIVE
      • subversive
      • grassroots
      • lack of standardization
    • Sickness and suffering are not just natural processes. They are socially produced and shaped by local and global patterns of social inequality and power relations.
    THE RISE OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
      • 1 in 3 people in the US use some sort of alternative therapy
      • ethnographic studies have shown that traditional practices and beliefs involving health, illness and healing were NEVER fully extinguished. They live on, though they may be frowned upon
      • are we in "a golden age of quackery"?
        • governments are eager to assess and regulate these practices which can provide additional sources of income and novel cost containment solutions, as the cost of biomedicine rises.
        • DANGERS OF MAINSTREAMING CAM?
          • the loss of self-help and grass-roots ethos that have historically characterized alternative medicine-EXPENSIVE (as practitioners become bureaucratized, professionalized and commercialized they become luxuries for the wealthy)
          • practitioners are understandably distrustful of biomedical specialists getting training and licenses in  hybrid, inauthentic fields like "oriental medicine" so that they can compete in the market
      THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH
      •  explores the diversity of popular methods in cultural context
      • seeks to clarify the VALUE and MEANING that these methods contribute to the lives of patients, practitioners, and communities
      • seeks to understand how these meanings and values (etiologies) and therapeutic methods are constructed, imagined or contested in time and space.
      • seeks to validate the experiences and testimonies of non-biomedical therapies rather than prove or disprove their objective validity in quantitative terms
      THEMES TO BE EXPLORED
      • diverse approaches to health and illness and healing engage mindful social , and political bodies which are shifting and permeable
      • flow and circulation are central to biological and social life, wellness and healing.
      • healing experiences are mediated through EMOTION, INTER-RELATIONS, MOVEMENT, SENSUAL EXPERIENCE, while they are rooted in local contexts
      • the senses act and interact with the world in dynamic and complex ways. Their role in healing goes well beyond current Western conceptions and approaches
      HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY & MEDICINE
      • Western medical training prioritizes the workings of the MACROSCOPIC PHYSICAL & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, and the notion of the NEUTRAL OBSERVER.
      • This makes Western medical students and doctors uneasy with models that do not employ these notions. (non-Western systems) 
      • if you cant measure and compare it, it aint real!
      • medical anthropology developed out of the attempt to understand the health-related beliefs and practices in their local cultural context.
      • medical anthropologists explore culturally situated ideas, norms and practices related to health and illness, natural and supernatural. 
      • health and healing are approached as CULTURAL CONSTRUCTS (not scientific facts), expressed symbolically through language, informed by particular historical, socioeconomic, and political circumstances. 
      HEALING AND THE POWER OF AGENCY
      • the ability to heal confers high status in all societies (social and cultural)
      • traditional healers are often born into families or lineages of healers and apprentice through family members who are also healers 
      • may be "odd" people or have an ecstatic experience early in life, suffer from unusual conditions (epilepsy) or show signs of special healing powers from birth
      • Western medicine believes in a SINGLE CURE for every illness, so it is difficult for us to understand the traditional healers may suggest a number of different herbal cures, for instance.
      • Herbal medicine (traditionally)
        • different parts of the same plant prepared in different ways and used in different combinations with other aspects of curing are used for different purposes 
      • In Western hierarchical medical systems, the distance between patient and biomedical doctors is vast and communication is impeded by terminology and social awkwardness, such as hesitancy of patients to ask questions. 
      THE DOCTOR PATIENT RELATIONSHIP AND THE ROLE OF THE PATIENT
      • Models:
        • ENGINEERING MODEL
          •  patient directs his/her own care; doctor assists
          • this model has the highest agency of the patient and is now beginning to be encouraged , has led to the rise of CAM 
        • PRIESTLY MODEL
          •  patient is passive, trusting and obedient; doctor has full authority
          • paternalistic
          • describes traditional western medicine 
        • CONTRACTUAL MODEL
          •  legal agreement between to parties who share the same goal
        • COLLEGIAL MODEL 
          •  trust between patient and doctor with equal effort
        • THE SICK ROLE (in sociology-Parsons)
        • Parsons was a functionalist sociologist, who argued that being sick means that the sufferer enters a role of 'sanctioned deviance'. This is because, from a functionalist perspective, a sick individual is not a productive member of society. Therefore this deviance needs to be policed, which is the role of the medical profession. 
          • The general idea is that the individual who has fallen ill is not only physically sick, but now adheres to the specifically patterned social role of being sick
          • ‘Being Sick’ is not simply a ‘state of fact’ or ‘condition’, it contains within itself customary rights and obligations based on the social norms that surround it. 
          • The doctor patient role is inherently hierarchical  
          • The theory outlined two rights of a sick person and two obligations:
        • Rights:
          • The sick person is exempt from normal social roles
          • The sick person is not responsible for their condition
        • Obligations:
          • The sick person should try to get well
          • The sick person should seek technically competent help and cooperate with the medical professional
        AGENCY: CAM versus BIOMEDICINE
        • CAM practitioners spend more time with patients perceptions and experience of illness.
          • individualized attention, and a greater willingness to listen to patents concerns have contributed to the popularity of many alternative therapies (Mediation) >Agency
        • BIOMEDICINE: spend little time with patients
          • seek to elicit specific complaints  (symptoms)dominate conversations and expect unswerving obedience from patients (Coercion) <Agency
        CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS AND WHY THEY MATTER TO HEALTHCARE 
        • drapetomania, hysteria, onanism...and...
        • speaking against a repressive state=mentally ill
        • alcoholism ? PTSD? PMS? "pre-diabetes"? 
          • These are created, deleted and legitimated through overt and covert channels of power...as are policies, programs and drugs to treat them.
          • resources and blame are also redirected, everyone is encouraged to take stock and seek treatment
          • deeply embedded in modern capitalist society
        CORE CONCEPTS -DEFINITIONS OF "HEALTH"
        • BIOMEDICAL PERSPECTIVE: health : the absence of disease -NEGATIVE
          • disease: the malfunction or disturbance, usually physical or biochemical in nature
          • may have a disease (arthritis) but feel "healthy...never hurt and visa versa
        • HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE: health is a state of harmony and balance and wellbeing (includes physical as well as emotional, mental, social and spiritual aspects of a person) -POSITIVE
          • from the holistic perspective if someone is feeling ill, something is out of balance-there is disharmony
          • roots of suffering are social, emotional or supernatural, depending on your cultural beliefs
          • healing traditions have a way of addressing the discomfort and re-balancing a person to restore health. HEALTH IS A NATURAL STATE
        • analogy of beauty: if beauty is defined in positive terms as harmonius and balanced or pleasant appearance, those blemishes may matter less.

        There is a Japanese art form called Kintsukuroi which literally means “to repair with gold.” It is a potter’s art. When a clay bowl or vase falls to the ground and shatters, the potter gathers the pieces and artfully reassembles it using gold or silver lacquer. The result? A functional piece with elaborate veins of gold and silver holding it together making it even more beautiful for having been broken.
        Kintsukuroi expresses a profound eternal truth… when we stop pretending to be strong and allow ourselves to be loved in our weakness, we become strong. When we collapse into our insecurity, we become secure. When we allow love to flow into us instead of fear and self-consciousness, we transform it into genuine other-centeredness, connected to everything and everyone. Our wounds and scars become the cracks that most brightly reflect the presence of this connection (treasures in jars of clay).

        Much like beauty, health is not a hard fact of life, but a personal judgement and a subjective experience in the mind of the beholder

        FIVE MODELS OF HEALTH (Owen)

        1. PATHOGENIC MODEL: looks at an external cause (aetiology)
        2. BIOLOGICAL MODEL: focuses on symptoms, recognizing that a single cause may produce different effects in different systems
        3. HOLISTIC MODEL: many aspects of the patient and the environment are involved and connected through a mutual feedback, and that illness may be necessary to affect a change in that environment or person
        4. HOLOGRAPHIC MODEL: symptoms reflect the "whole picture" and the "essence of the person" no matter where they occur in the body
        5. RELATIONAL MODEL: highlights the role of the "context" of symptoms and the patients relationships, including the relationship with the healer
        disease (biological) versus illness (subjective experience)?????? regardless of whether there is confirmation of the illness or not, to the sufferer it represents the personal and social experience of malfunction or discomfort in particular cultural contexts

        the EXPERIENCE of illness is based on the cultural context of illness and suffering.

        CURING OR HEALING:

        • HEALING 
          • Healing is the therapeutic process or action that addresses the whole suffering person and the illness rather than just the specific body part or a particular problem-includes emotional, mental, social and spiritual needs and concerns in the treatment plan. 
          • Healing aims at bringing about improvement 
          • no enemy, nothing to be destroyed, making whole- may not return to original state
        • CURING 
          • Curing has the goal of removing a particular problem completely and permanently, whether that may be a disease, social or spiritual disorder mental or emotional dysfunction, etc.
          • curing aims to eliminate condition, healing aims to restore balance
          • in traditional settings, FAMILY and COMMUNITY are usually involved in healing and curing. 
          • biomedicine: kill the enemy, elimination or destruction of external illness-return to original state
        Harikari: suicide as social healing in japan-since the ki resides in the abdomen ( and it redresses social imbalance and disruption through dishonor)

        BIOMEDICINE VERSUS TRADITIONAL MEDICINE (summary)

        • Biomedicine
          • employs mechanical model of the human body
          • treats each organ and each person in isolation
          • emphasizes causation and responsibility (blame)
          • sees TARGET MEASURES for health (height, weight, red blood cell count, blood pressure
          • focus is on "magic bullet" (drug)
        • Ethnomedicine
          • illness results from a complex combination of natural and supernatural causes
          • requires a combination of therapies to achieve a cure
          • aim is to restore harmony (which may not be original state)
          • no magic bullet, community and family are important considerations (social world)
        NORMALITY:
        normality is shaped by cultural forces
        • MEDICALIZATION -what used to be normal can come under the domain of biomedicine and medical surveillance
          • pregnancy and child birth
          • aging
          • menstruation (the curse) 
          • constitutional states
          • alcoholism
          • ADHD
          • PMS 
          • altered states of consciousness
          • infertility
          • defiant disorders
          • "micromastia" small breasts
          • menopause (hormone deficiency) 
        • "TYRANNY OF NORMAL" overemphasis on "normality" that leads to excessive interference with the minds and bodies of people who do not meet these measures, or social stigma
          • abort abnormal fetuses (Dwarfism)
          • Southern Europe and Middles East: light eyes: give the evil eye, red hair=witchcraft
          • Africa: albinos: may be kidnapped and killed for their body parts (magical)
          • CORRECT ABNORMALITIES MEDICALLY IF WE CAN
          • south africa: schizophrenia=healer
        • PLACEBO: the "nothing" given of the placebo is far from nothing at all...it is the impact of the anticipation, meaning, and cultural context of healing-GENUINE AND POWERFUL HEALING FORCE IN ITS OWN RIGHT
          • The nocebo effect is the adverse reaction experienced by a patient who receives a nocebo. Conversely, a placebo effect is an inert substance that creates either a beneficial response or no response in a patient. The phenomenon by which a placebo creates a beneficial response is called the placebo effect. In contrast to the placebo effect, the nocebo effect is relatively obscure. 
          • Both nocebo and placebo effects are psychogenic. Rather than being caused by a biologically active component of the placebo, these reactions result from a patient's expectations and perceptions of how the substance will affect him or her. Though they originate from psychological sources, nocebo effects can be either psychological or physiological. 
         GENDER AND MEDICINE 
        • women
          • more likely to be accused of witchcraft when they are successful in ways that are not available for women
          • Reproduction: regulated
          • women's bodies :regulated more than men's 
        TWO TYPES OF ILLNESSES RECOGNIZED IN ANTHROPOLOGY
        • NATURALISTIC
          • emphasize the physical body and the environment as causative and therapeutic agents 
          • unintentional harm 
        • PERSONALISTIC
          • prioritize the role of social and supernatural factors
          • tend to point to intentional harm 
        FACTS and TRUTHS: understanding others
        • EMIC vs ETIC perspectives
        • post-rationalism: holds that there is no one truth, but many truths, so there is an interest insharing perspectives and experiences in CAM and alternative medical camps (KLASS)
          • growing mindset in American culture which allows people to believe in and make use of alternative practices while also using biomedicine 
        HYGIENE HYPOTHESIS:
        • biomedicine has waged a war on viruses, bacteruia and parasites, but can some of these be beneficial? Can soone be "healthy" with these present?
        • MODERN LIFE is seen as the cause of many diseases instead (asthma, fibromyalgia, allergiescrohn's disease. HYGEIENE itself is to blame
          • the birth canal: what is lost in a C-section?
          • what is killed with antibacterial soaps?
          • what is good about kids getting pin-worms?
          • what is lost in genetic engineering of food plants and commodification of seeds by bio corporations?
          CRITIQUE OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY/WELL-BEING (Richard King)
          • "spirituality" in the West are a"silent takeover of religion and Asian wisdom traditions by the forces of market capitolism which promote INDIVIDUALISM and CONSUMERIST SPIRITUALITIES"
            • Yoga & Toaism originally sought to extinguish self-centeredness and the attachment to material things while fostering RENUNCIATION COMPASSION and SIMPLICITY-
              • have been adopted and rebranded for Western tastes and agendas; becoming primary tools for HEALTH, LONGEVITY, and PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT.
          • The World's Traditional Religions and practices provide a vital source for RESISTANCE to the way that these forces are operating in biomedicine (unrestrained commercialism & commodification of life itself)
            • ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES arise from these traditions, creating hybrid therapies

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