Deck 5: Disease, Illness, and Healing

Question 1

Recent change in healing practices among the Sherpa of Nepal is best described as

A)medicalization.
B)Western cultural imperialism.
C)historical trauma.
D)medical confusion.
E)selective pluralism.

Answer 1

selective pluralism.

Question 2

An increasingly common culture-specific syndrome among Japanese male adolescents is

A)koro.
B)kuru.
C)kula.
D)hikikomuri.
E)susto.

Answer 2

hikikomuri.

Question 3

Retired Husband Syndrome and awas are examples of

A)diseases of contact.
B)eating disorders.
C)culture-specific syndromes.
D)globalized diseases.
E)diseases of development.

Answer 3

culture-specific syndromes.

Question 4

Medicinal chewing of coca leaves is

A)popularly used to stop babies from crying.
B)commonly used by people in the Himalayas for fighting the cold.
C)important in Andean rituals and health practices.
D)more common among women than men.
E)all of the above.

Question 5

Humoral healing systems are based on

A)the use of joking and telling funny stories to the patient.
B)the frequent holding of community dances to restore public harmony.
C)the use of prayer as the crucial path to healing.
D)a philosophy that seeks balance among various bodily fluids and forces.
E)a combination of Western biomedicine and the use of local herbs and minerals.

Question 6

The Ju/'hoansi of the Kalahari desert have a healing system that is

A)dominated by women specialists.
B)humoral-based.
C)community-based.
D)focused on the shaman-client relationship.
E)dependant on sacrifice to the supernaturals.

Question 7

A prominent feature of Western medical school training, according to critical medical anthropology is

A)sleep deprivation.
B)patient objectification.
C)tunnel vision of knowledge.
D)dehumanization.
E)all of the above.

Question 8

An example of the interpretivist approach in medical anthropology is

A)showing how a song sung by a shaman might help a woman through a difficult birth.
B)analysis of the role of global political interests in causing child malnutrition.
C)studying how hookworm is related to wet rice cultivation in Asia.
D)assessment of the impact of disease during colonial contact.
E)revealing the role poverty plays in disease.

Question 9

The role of European diseases in the depopulation of the "New World" was

A)relatively unimportant compared to other causes.
B)significant.
C)far less important than the effect of "New World" diseases on the colonizers.
D)of unknown dimensions since we have absolutely no data.
E)none of the above: the "New World" was already experiencing substantial population decline before the arrival of the Europeans.

Question 10

The area within medical anthropology that seeks to make its knowledge useful to medical practitioners working in health care delivery is

A)applied medical anthropology.
B)critical medical anthropology.
C)ethnomedicine.
D)medicalization.
E)symbolic/interpretivist anthropology.

Question 11

Treating the effects of poverty on health with pills is referred to as

A)cultural constructionism.
B)medicalization.
C)biological determinism.
D)ethnomedicine.
E)medical pluralism.

Question 12

The ecological/epidemiological approach in medical anthropology involves

A)attention to how certain diseases function to control population growth.
B)study of the interaction between politics, religion, and health.
C)a major focus on how genetics influences death and disease.
D)close attention to the symbols which different use to represent natural causes of death.
E)study of how the natural environment interacts with culture to cause disease.

Question 13

An increasing prevalence of the disease __________ is attributed to the construction of high dams and irrigation in many parts of the world.

A)arthritis
B)measles
C)high blood pressure
D)schistosomiasis
E)influenza

Question 14

__________ is a culture-specific syndrome in Spain and Portugal and common among Latino people in the United States; it is associated with a stressful incident or situation.

A)Hikikimori
B)Susto
C)Kuru
D)Koro
E)Suffering from water

Question 15

The term "medical pluralism" refers to the

A)presence of many illnesses in one community.
B)growing tendency for Western medical students to overspecialize.
C)practice, in industrial countries, of a patient consulting several physicians before deciding what to do.
D)presence of multiple health systems within a society.
E)situation when a doctor suggests several forms of treatment to a patient.

Question 16

The phrase "diseases of development" refers to health problems

A)related to adolescence as a stressful phase of human development.
B)caused by economic development activities such as dam construction.
C)that international aid agencies seek to prevent or alleviate.
D)of people who work overseas for international development agencies.
E)found mainly in urban areas.

Question 17

Among the Tsimané people of Bolivia, the health status of children is strongly related to

A)their gender: boys are healthier than girls.
B)whether or not the child was breastfed.
C)whether or not the mother received formal education.
D)whether or not the mother works outside the home.
E)the mother's traditional knowledge of healing plants.

Question 18

Structural suffering refers to health problems caused by

A)poverty.
B)war.
C)famine.
D)forced migration.
E)all of the above.

Question 19

Ethnomedicine refers to

A)the study of cross-cultural health systems.
B)the globalization of Western biomedicine.
C)the universal use of medicines to treat illness.
D)medical systems that focus on the body's internal organs.
E)ways of curing disease rather than preventing it.

Question 20

__________ is/are vital for health among the Orang Asli of Malaysia.

A)Hot spices in food
B)Hyssop
C)Coolness
D)Sulfur baths
E)Spiritual chanting

Question 21

The case of Mary, the Samoan girl with diabetes, illustrates the non-fit of two different cultures' explanatory models for illness.

Question 22

In rural Nepal, the increasing role of tourism in the local economy has led to a complete replacement of traditional healing practices with Western biomedicine.

Question 23

A study of the Tsimané people in Bolivia concluded that local people's access to plant resources must be protected.

Question 24

Since 1978, the World Health Organization has endorsed the incorporation of local healing practices into national health systems.

Question 25

Medical anthropologists study healing practices only in non-Western cultures.

Question 26

Forced migration that causes mental and physical stress is an example of structural suffering.

Question 27

In the United States, all states allocate reservations to so-called "recognized tribes."

Question 28

Some forms of alternative healing include the use of radon.

Question 29

Sufriendo del agua is an example of a culture-specific syndrome in which structural factors play a large role.

Question 30

Women working in padi fields in China have an increased risk of hookworm infection.

Question 31

One factor that may explain the success of placebos is the act of the prescription itself.

Question 32

Ethno-etiology refers to cross-culturally variations in causal explorations for health problems and suffering.

Question 33

Surveys conducted by medical anthropologists in several developing countries reveal that most parents have a clear and thorough understanding of vaccines and eagerly seek inoculations for their children.

Question 34

XMDRTB is an example of resources.

A)a new strain of an infectious disease.
B)a culture-specific syndrome.
C)medical pluralism.
D)the spread of a disease from Asia to the West through trade.
E)a disease that affects the rich more than the poor.

Question 35

__________ is the poorest country in South America, although it is rich in natural

A)Argentina
B)Venezuela
C)Chile
D)Bolivia

Question 36

According to critical medical anthropologists, one significant feature of the training of Western biomedical healers is called cognitive retrogression.

Question 37

Historical trauma as a result of European colonialism is closely associated with substance abuse among indigenous peoples of North America.

Question 38

The Ju/'hoansi's traditional healing system is a form of community healing.

Question 39

Robert Trotter's work in discovering the role of lead poisoning in some traditional medicines used by Mexican Americans is an example of critical medical anthropology.

Question 40

A disease which is contracted by working in contaminated water is

A)hookworm.
B)malaria.
C)tuberculosis.
D)measles.
E)diabetes.

Question 41

World famous chef Jamie Oliver spent time in a town in West Virginia in order to help improve people's food habits.

Question 42

One of the criteria for becoming a healer is _________.

Question 43

A healing system that concentrates on maintaining balance in the body among various substances and factors judged to be "heating" or "cooling" is called a __________ system.

Question 44

Most Sherpas live in the country of __________.

Question 45

An example of a disease of development mentioned in the textbook is __________.

Question 46

Health problems caused by powerful forces such as poverty, war, famine, and forced migration are referred to as __________.

Question 47

A positive result from a healing method due to a symbolic nonmaterial factor is known as ________.

Question 48

What is structural suffering, and what is an ethnographic example of it?

Question 49

Heavy reliance on the use of technology in diagnosis and treatment is a characteristic of the __________ healing system.

Question 50

The "retired husband syndrome" affects women in the country of __________.

Question 51

Define and give an example of the interpretivist approach in medical anthropology.

Question 52

A disease that was a prominent cause of deaths of Native Americans during early contact with European colonizers is __________.

Question 53

In the country of __________, as a whole, nearly one-third of the population has inadequate access to water.

Question 54

What is the goal of applied medical anthropology and what is one example of it?

Question 55

A major category of affliction among the Subanun people of the Philippines is __________.

Question 56

Selective pluralism characterizes the contemporary healing situation of the __________ people of Nepal.

Question 57

To what does the term medicalization refer and provide an example of it.

Question 58

The use of anthropological research to help improve health care delivery is called __________.

Question 59

When medical anthropologists consider how the natural and social environments interact to cause disease, they are following the __________ approach.

Question 60

An example of a culture-specific syndrome among White middle-class adolescent girls in the United States is __________.

Question 61

Discuss the disease/illness dichotomy and provide an example of a disease and an illness.

Question 62

What is a "disease of development?" Provide an example and explain its specific cause.

Question 63

What are the primary criteria for becoming a healer? Compare what you know about shamans/shamankas with Western biomedical healers in terms of the criteria.

Question 64

What are some of the major issues facing the Sherpa of Nepal today?

Question 65

Describe two differences between shamanic healers and Western biomedical healers.

Question 66

What is community healing and how does it work?

Question 67

Define phytotherapy and discuss its role among the Tsimané people of Bolivia.

Question 68

What is humoral healing and describe one ethnographic example of it.

Question 69

How is globalization changing health, illness, and healing? Provide a specific cultural example.

Question 70

Describe the ecological/epidemiological approach to understanding health systems. Why are settled populations more likely to have certain health problems, like infectious diseases, than mobile populations?

Question 71

Explain the concept of a culture-specific syndrome and discuss one example of a culture-specific syndrome including attention to symptoms, social distribution, and possible cause(s).