Crazy Like Us The Globalization of the American Psyche

In his book “Crazy Like Us”, Ethan Watters explains four types of psychopathological conditions that are rising in different countries all over the world. Among them are the rise of anorexia in Hong Kong, China and PTSD caused by natural disasters in Sri Lanka. Mental illnesses are not only known in the Western part of the world, but exist in different forms worldwide. Watters explains the different symptoms of a mental disease in a particular culture and links it to the symptoms of the Western world. He also describes the negative and positive approach of social workers from the West, who tried to help people from a different culture. With this book, Watters tries to enhance the understanding of the symptom experience and approach for the treatment of mental illness in a different culture, and shows that a Western approach is not always the right and suitable one.

‘Crazy Like Us’ is a book of high quality. Firstly, the globalization of the ‘American psyche’ is well described through the four cases the book deals with. Secondly, these cases (anorexia, depression, schizophrenia and PTSD) are easy to relate to, for both professionals and non-professionals in the field. This aspect makes the book accessible to a wide field. Last, Watters makes use of a variability of scientific articles, interviews with and research by professionals to illustrate the concepts.

The book could be called semi-scientific. Watters does make use of a lot of scientific articles, interviews with professionals in the field and research by these professionals. However, the writing style makes it accessible to ‘lay people’ and society in general. Sometimes, Watters’ opinion on a certain subject shines through the sentences he writes, which cannot be called scientific. Furthermore, at some points he describes his findings by using ‘I’ and ‘me’. For example: “The day before I visited Dr. Lee during my visit to Hong Kong, I spent an afternoon flipping through the press clipping files of the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association with the organization’s clinical psychologist, Celia Wu” (Ethan Watters, 2010, p. 44).

Through explaining four interesting cases in a relatively easy yet thorough way, the book manages well to bridge a gap between science and society. Because it’s based on a lot of research itself and refers back to many scientific articles already published, it meets the needs of the scientific world and shows to be of good quality. At the same time, the language and examples used are still understandable for non-professionals and therefore for the society in general.

Reading the book is especially recommend to scientist in the field of mental health. Hopefully it evokes discussion about what is happening in the world and is so clearly described by Watters: the globalization of a very one-sided approach and explanation to a multidimensional problem. It is also recommend to anyone interested and society as a whole, to gain further understanding of the issue. It is especially relevant to be aware of the fact that the pharmaceutical industry has a great impact and a lot of power in the field of mental health and related treatments, and this is well described throughout the book.

Geschreven bij Crazy Like Us

Goed geschreven boek over de invloeden van het Westen, en met name Amerika, op de resterende culturen van de rest van de wereld.