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Crazy Like Us: The Globalization Of The American Psyche (2010)

by Ethan Watters(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

141658708X (ISBN13: 9781416587088)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Free Press

review 1: I read this fascinating book in 2010. For anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in another nation, America looks about as insane as insane can get. What is disturbing about this book is how we are exporting our definition of insane to other nations via psychologists, psychiatrists and our pharmaceutical medications. Illnesses that had not even existed before are suddenly cropping up in various nations we are "assisting." America, according to this journalist, is infiltrating the world with our distorted definition of insanity for profit. It's bad enough we have to invade nations and bomb them for profit, but now we are damaging the collective psyche of the world. In my opinion medications do wonderful things for people who genuninely need them, but this viral i... morenfiltration of the globe is bizarre. Nothing good can come of this. We are about to get whacked with the Karma stick.
review 2: The first two sections were frustrating, as Watters had some good stories to tell but twisted them to downplay the organic truth of mental illness, and the suffering that goes with it, in order to play up the stereotype of the "wise savage". Particularly on PTSD he ignored the significant history of illness that predated Vietnam and that is very global in its reach. However his second two sections demonstrate very clearly the importance of cross-cultural psychiatry and the evils of globally marketing illness. Ultimately good to read such a thoughtful critic of predominant biomedical models and Northern thinking, but readers should be just as skeptical as he is and be sure to consider all the evidence he neglects. less

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