Saturday, August 28, 2010

All in the Mind - Crazy Like Us? - Ethan Watters on the Globalization of the American Psyche

Nice episode this week on the ways in which we (Americans) are exporting our notions of mental illness to the rest of the world. This is a discussion with Ethan Watters, author of Crazy Like Us: The Globalisation of the American Psyche.

Crazy Like Us?

Crazy_Like_US_LR


How did depression come to be marketed to the Japanese as the "Cold of the Soul"?

Has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) become the Western "lingua franca of human suffering"?

Why didn't anorexia nervosa, as it's experienced in countries like America & Australia, appear to exist in China 15 years ago?

How should the world meet the psychosocial (as distinct from the material) needs of Pakistanis in the face of the horror floods?

Can the human psyche be globalised in the way that fashion and fast food have been?

Journalist Ethan Watters, author of Crazy Like Us: The Globalisation of the American Psyche, is my guest on the show this week.

Tune in on-air or on the All in the Mind website, where you'll find lots of relevant stories from the show archives, and take the opportunity to comment directly there too (click on Add Your Comment).

Ethan is up for participating in any discussion that unfolds - so, go for it!

if you want to delve further, there's a video of Ethan Watters over at ABC's Big Ideas, and here's an excerpt from his book in The New York Times.

And some extra audio from the conversation we shared, as promised (will make more sense after you hear the show):

Schizophrenia in Zanzibar

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"Culture bound" syndromes?

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Trauma checklists that forget culture

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The psychiatrist in the family

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And now, this week's episode:

Crazy Like Us - The Globalisation of the American Psyche

"Would you like fries with that?" America's big brands and fast food outlets have become the dominant signatures of globalisation. But is mental illness becoming another? Is West best when it comes to the diagnosis, definition and treatment of mental illness? Ethan Watters unearths a disturbing trend, which could inform how we respond to disasters like the devastating Pakistan floods.

Show Transcript | Hide Transcript

Transcripts are published on Wednesdays. Audio directly after broadcast on Saturdays.

Guests

Ethan Watters
Journalist and author
http://crazylikeus.com/AUTHOR_BIO.html

Further Information

All in the Mind Blog with Natasha Mitchell
Includes extra audio of the conversation with Ethan Watters

A Mental Health Odyssey in India: Part 1 of 4
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2003

A Mental Health Odyssey in India: Part 2 of 4
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2003

A Mental Health Odyssey in India: Part 3 of 4
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2003

A Mental Health Odyssey in India: Part 4 of 4
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2003

Troubled Minds - ABC Science Online feature (Natasha Mitchell 2003)
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National

Drug and alcohol abuse: The refugee experience
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National

Aceh's Psychological Recovery
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2005

Burma: 'I resist in my mind only'
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2007

Disease of the Split Soul: Schizophrenia in Japan
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2002

On the Couch After Mao - Therapy in Modern China
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2004

Trauma and transition: Mental health in Iraq
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2004

Disembodied brains, culture and science: Indigenous lives under gaze (Part 1 of 2
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2008

Disembodied brains, culture and science: Indigenous lives under gaze (Part 2 of 2)
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National, 2008

Publications

Title: Crazy Like Us: The Globalisation of the American Psyche
Author: Ethan Watters
Publisher: Scribe, 2010

Title: Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria
Author: Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters
Publisher: University of California Press, 1996

Title: Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconsious and the Exploitation of Today's Walking Worried
Author: Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters
Publisher: Scribner, 1999 (ISBN 0684835843)

Presenter

Natasha Mitchell


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