F. How have the various subcultures to which you belong influenced your definitions, interpretations, and management of illness?
My upbringing was in a traditional Catholic, French Canadian family setting on a rural farm. As discussed by Linda Sussman in the Role of Culture chapter of the ‘Handbook of Culture, Therapy and Healing,’ I can see where our health care was first managed by lay people, specifically in my family, by my mother and father and with occasional suggestions from grandparents. When one of us became ill, my mother would diagnose, if she could, and give us her remedy if she thought it was a fairly minor, manageable illness, such as a cold, or fever. I remember Vicks rubbed on our chests, and holding our towel-covered heads over steam. There were also ‘folk’ remedies such as gargling with salt water for a sore throat (which my doctor now recommends) and I think baking soda for upset stomach. Family and friends taught us to almost revere ‘the doctor.’ I don’t know if anyone ever questioned his treatments. When I was little, the doctor was called to treat us at home, and I remember hiding because he came to see me quite often for illnesses like mumps, measles, and chicken pox. For emergencies, like cutting my leg on broken glass that needed stitching up, or my brother falling head first from the hayloft to the cement floor of the barn, we were rushed to his office for treatment. (His skull was fractured and he ended up in the hospital, but was sent to stay with our grandmother because they couldn’t keep him in bed.) As we grew older, other subcultures that influenced us would have been friends, classmates, work associates. Our religious affiliations most probably affected some medical issues concerning pregnancies, and end- of-life decisions. I myself have had to make a conscious effort to research and question treatments that have been recommended by the medical profession. It has been difficult to overcome that ‘godlike’ attitude that I saw as a child. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CulturalandTraditionalHealthandHealing" group. To post to this group, send email to culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.ca/group/culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
