Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche

Written by Ethan Watters

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

It is well known that American culture is a dominant force at home and abroad; our exportation of everything from movies to junk food is a well-documented phenomenon. But is it possible that America's most troubling impact on the globalizing world has yet to be accounted for? In Crazy Like Us, Ethan Watters reveals that the most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself: We are in the process of homogenizing the way the world goes mad.

America has been the world leader in generating new mental health treatments and modern theories of the human psyche. We export our psychopharmaceuticals packaged with the certainty that our biomedical knowledge will relieve the suffering and stigma of mental illness. We categorize disorders, thereby defining mental illness and health, and then parade these seemingly scientific certainties in front of the world. The blowback from these efforts is just now coming to light: It turns out that we have not only been changing the way the world talks about and treats mental illness-we have been changing the mental illnesses themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515973690

Reviews for Crazy Like Us

[imperfectcj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The idea is that diagnostic criteria for mental illnesses are neither static nor universal. They change with time and by culture. By applying the DSM globally, the United States is influencing how mental health is viewed and treated in other cultures, as well as interfering with the ways these cultures have developed to deal with mental health issues. The premise was interesting enough, but I just couldn't stay interested. I'm glad I read what I did, though, because this issue is addressed in the novel I'm reading now (What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt).

[Zaria · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very insightful! Had to listen for my psychology class and was intrigued!

[kgib_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is so readable, convincing and disturbing. I know I'll be recommending it to lots of people.