The Critical Approach
The critical approach of medical anthropology is possibly one that relates most closely to Western culture. The critical approach focuses on the biomedicine, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals associated with the disease. In American health care, we heavily rely on medicines and pharmaceuticals to treat our illnesses. Medical anthropologists use this approach to see what this reliance on medicines says about our culture overall. This approach can also be applied to other cultures, in different variations.
The way we perceive Alzheiemer’s disease in America has a lot to do with our cultural values as a population. The critical approach to medical anthropology analyzes the way we treat our patients and describes what this represents in our overall cultural belief system. This approach can directly apply to Alzheimer’s disease, especially since it has become such a public, widely-known disease today.
The way we perceive Alzheiemer’s disease in America has a lot to do with our cultural values as a population. The critical approach to medical anthropology analyzes the way we treat our patients and describes what this represents in our overall cultural belief system. This approach can directly apply to Alzheimer’s disease, especially since it has become such a public, widely-known disease today.
The history of Alzheimer’s disease is a relatively short one. In the early 1900’s, Alois Alzheimer was the physician assigned to care for a patient with rapidly declining severe dementia. After she died, an autopsy on her brain allowed Alzheimer to study the cellular changes in the brain’s nervous tissues. He found an atrophy of the gray matter surrounding the brain, along with bundles of neurofibers and the plaques that are now distinguishable to Alzheimer’s disease. (Plontz)
Later, the disease was named after his pioneering work with this patient.
Photo Credit: Find a Grave.
Back when this happened, dementia was considered a senile disease, a mental disorder if you will. Alzheimer’s disease was accepted right away, but it wasn’t for decades later that it finally received more attention. The reason Alzheimer’s disease is now as popular and important to the public today is due to the fact that it affects more people. We now have the medical capabilities to live longer, causing more age-related diseases, like Alzheimer’s, to be present. There are also people in the “Baby Boomer” generation who are reaching the age that Alzheimer’s disease becomes prevalent, causing it to be a major impact on today’s culture in America. The economic implications of this generation contracting Alzheimer’s disease are enormous, as Frank Luntz outlines in this video:
Later, the disease was named after his pioneering work with this patient.
Photo Credit: Find a Grave.
Back when this happened, dementia was considered a senile disease, a mental disorder if you will. Alzheimer’s disease was accepted right away, but it wasn’t for decades later that it finally received more attention. The reason Alzheimer’s disease is now as popular and important to the public today is due to the fact that it affects more people. We now have the medical capabilities to live longer, causing more age-related diseases, like Alzheimer’s, to be present. There are also people in the “Baby Boomer” generation who are reaching the age that Alzheimer’s disease becomes prevalent, causing it to be a major impact on today’s culture in America. The economic implications of this generation contracting Alzheimer’s disease are enormous, as Frank Luntz outlines in this video:
Video Credit: ActionAlz
Due to the increase in public outreach of the disease, it has become incredibly medicalized in our culture today. The natural decrease in cognitive ability associated with aging has now become a widespread epidemic in the form of Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of personal treatments and understanding, our society treats Alzheimer’s patients with sedatives and drugs to make their suffering easier, but we have yet to work on preventative measures and we cannot find a cure.
Alzheimer’s disease is presented as an old-age sign of senility. What I mean by this is the American public views the disease as something that happens to old people and makes them go crazy. This can be analyzed by medical anthropology to show some common features of American culture. One thing that can be noticed is that Americans have a lack of respect for their elderly, which is actually quite uncommon in other cultures. Other cultures see their elderly as the most important people in the population, while Americans view them as disabled. A lot of people see aging as a disease itself, and elderly people are thought of with little esteem. Another thing that can be determined is the fact that we still see Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as a form of senility. We see these people as patients suffering from a mental disorder, comparable to bipolar disorder. While this is somewhat true, the stigma associated with senility is a poor representation of how Alzheimer’s disease actually affects a patient.
Work Cited:
ActionAlz. “Baby Boomers” Video. May 12, 2011. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbhHCyz8rZg
Find A Grave. “Alois Alzheimer”. July 10, 2000. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10688
Plontz, Michael. “A Brief History of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Caregiver.com. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.caregiver.com/channels/alz/articles/a_brief_history2.htm
Alzheimer’s disease is presented as an old-age sign of senility. What I mean by this is the American public views the disease as something that happens to old people and makes them go crazy. This can be analyzed by medical anthropology to show some common features of American culture. One thing that can be noticed is that Americans have a lack of respect for their elderly, which is actually quite uncommon in other cultures. Other cultures see their elderly as the most important people in the population, while Americans view them as disabled. A lot of people see aging as a disease itself, and elderly people are thought of with little esteem. Another thing that can be determined is the fact that we still see Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as a form of senility. We see these people as patients suffering from a mental disorder, comparable to bipolar disorder. While this is somewhat true, the stigma associated with senility is a poor representation of how Alzheimer’s disease actually affects a patient.
Work Cited:
ActionAlz. “Baby Boomers” Video. May 12, 2011. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbhHCyz8rZg
Find A Grave. “Alois Alzheimer”. July 10, 2000. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10688
Plontz, Michael. “A Brief History of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Caregiver.com. Accessed July 30, 2013.
http://www.caregiver.com/channels/alz/articles/a_brief_history2.htm