Documentary Reflection Critique

    As previously stated, being a part of a western society—specifically western education—has isolated me from first-hand experience of Eastern medicinal practices, as well as healthcare in India. Due to the lack of such practices, Western society appears to minimize the positive effects of Eastern medicine, as well as less education attached to the social stigmas that women face in India. However, being able to note the scientific processes that Eastern healthcare takes to maximize its effects has increased my curiosity of Eastern healthcare practices and has inspired me to educate myself as well as others in my process of uncovering more about these underserved communities. Prior to this field experience, I was not aware of the wide range of research that is still being embarked regarding Eastern practices and Eastern healthcare. Being able to have participated in helping PHRII with the cervical cancer screenings has allowed for me to experience the advancements that Eastern healthcare is slowly implementing with more modern resources than when it was originally started with, which would not have stood out to me as important in a traditional classroom setting.  
   There are multiple effective actions that I constructed to place into my professional, educational, and personal career as a response to the content that was shared with me. The first, and the most important, is to continue educating myself. Education is the basis of our world, and in order to do anything with the information passed down to me, I want to make sure I am well-informed. After receiving more information as well as looking into research that has been done on Eastern medicine such as Ayurvedic, I want to teach others about this Eastern perspective, especially the aspects not even identified by Western medicine as a whole–such as the spirit, beginning with spreading this to my lo cal communities. If I am able to comfortably discuss and educate my local community about Eastern medicine, I know I would be able to spread this information on a state-wide or even national scale. My ultimate end goal, however, is to promote Eastern methods within my own career practices in the future. I aim to open up my own practice in clinical psychology therapy/counseling, and thus I do believe that Western medicine and their methods of tackling mental health are missing a much more personal aspect of health that is not discussed in the Western perspective—a vital aspect, I believe, such as the spirit could be a breakthrough in terms of how mental health is treated in the United States as it unifies the processes of both the physical, bodily health, as well as the mental simultaneously. In the pursuit of a basic spiritual health, one is also concurrently working on their minds and bodies--one Eastern practice that needs to be supported more along with the people behind it, including the women such as the ones above who have placed their blood, sweat, and tears into it.