丧亲之痛的社会意涵:对医学化的人类学反思

The Social Implication of Bereavement:Reflection of the Medicalization from Anthropological View

失去亲人而悲痛,是人类的正常情绪。但美国精神病学会认为,持续悲伤的时间应为2个月,超时则需进行治疗。从哈佛大学人类学家兼精神病学家凯博文(Arthur Kleinman)教授的反思中得到启发,结合中国的实际情况,通过跨文化比较寻找应对丧亲之痛的社会治疗方法及其社会意涵,对当代过度医学化现象进行人类学反思。不应将所有"反常"和问题都"医学化",全部付诸医疗实践。解决疾痛不仅需要生物医学的方法加以控制,也需要在社会文化中挖掘其根源和社会意涵,在社会文化中探索疾痛的解决之道。

Bereavement and grief are normal responses to human suffering and loss.However,the American Psychological Association（APA）advises those grieving for longer than 2 months to seek medical treatment,including psychological therapy and medication.This article is inspired by Arthur Kleinman,aprofessor of anthropology and psychiatry at Harvard University.It combines Kleinman＇s reflections with an analysis of China＇s traditional methods of coping with grief and cross-cultural comparisons between China＇s ethnic groups to find social solutions to manage bereavement.Furthermore,this article discusses the social implications of bereavement and the consequences of medicalization in today＇s society.The authors conclude that＂abnormal＂behaviors or emotions cannot be simply medicalized.Instead,we should look beyond biomedical explanations of disease to examination its social and cultural roots.This anthropological analysis may help create social solutions to help alleviate human suffering.