Ethan Watters: Homogenizing How the World Goes Mad

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Published on
July 12, 2010

"We're homogenizing the way the world goes mad," Ethan Watters, author of "Crazy Like Us," today told USC/California Endowment National Health Journalism Fellows gathered in Los Angeles this week.

Watters' most recent book, "Crazy Like Us," examines the influence of America on how mental illness is shaped around the world. He digs deep into the transformation of four medical conditions: anorexia in Hong Kong, PTSD in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, schizophrenia in Zanzibar, depression in Japan. (You can hear a longer version of an earlier presentation by Watters here.)

One doctor, an expert on depression, told Watters how GlaxoSmithKline gave him the "Gordon Gecko" treatment in Kyoto because the pharma giant was trying to market the antidepressant Paxil in Japan. Glaxo was redefining cultural narratives of mental health, the doctor told Watters, and similar transformations were happening on a global scale.

"As a writer, chills went down my spine," Watters said. "I could write a book that would bring that idea out into the world As a journalist, getting into this world seemed like a paradise."

One positive development of research into American "exports" of ideas about mental health has occurred in discussions of aid to Haiti after its massive earthquake:

"I did see more thoughtful ideas about using their religion and rituals with perhaps a little more understanding," Watters said. "Especially in a culture of poverty that deals with hardship all the time, Haitians have tremendously complex ideas about how to cope."

How mental illness is viewed in different countries has an enormous impact on the use and success of treatments, whether they are antidepressants or ancient rituals.

"We should worry about  (America's influence in defining mental health) in exactly the same way as we worry about the loss of biodiversity," Watters said. "These conceptions of the human mind could be lost before we recognize their value."

Related Posts:

Ethan Watters: Mental Health and the Importance of Two-Way Narratives (audio of full talk)

Brains around the World: New Thinking on Mental Health Disparities

Ethan Watters on The Daily Show (video)