Has the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything or has it made the familiar clearer?

“In different ways and for different reasons, a sense that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything has come to dominate public, personal, and intellectual life…The social entanglements it created have been both for better and for worse, but they have always exceeded the pathogen’s physical effects on bodies. Anthropologists recognize in these patterns not only a rupture but also the familiar as if what can be seen now is not new but has simply been made clearer.” (Adams and Nading 2020: 461).

Vincennes Adams and Alex Nading (2020) ‘Medical Anthropology in the Time of COVID-19’. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 34(4): 461–466.

1. Like many essay questions, there are two sides to explore in order to answer this essay well. It is worth developing an outline that takes into account both sides.

2. When you have made the first draft, consider the following questions:
a. Does your essay answer a question?
– or does it just give interesting information (without answering the question)?
– does it give evidence of having thought carefully and deeply about the question, considering it from different angles? (e.g. what, when, where, who, how, why?)

b. Is your essay research-led?
– have you read and used relevant work published in medical anthropology and other relevant disciplines as evidence/examples? Peer-reviewed journals and ethnographic monographs are particularly good. Are these appropriately and consistently referenced (e.g. using the Harvard, Chicago or Vancouver styles – see ‘Cite them Right’ for further information).
– have you critically evaluated what you have read, questioning the author, e.g. their purpose, methods used, strength of argument, possible bias etc. and communicating their opinion of it?
– are you aware of key approaches/perspectives / theoretical standpoints that medical anthropologists might have taken regarding the topic? Have you been suitably reflexive about your own experience and how it links to relevant concepts and approaches in medical anthropology?

3. Is your writing clear (grammatically and logically)? Does the essay use effective orienting sentences that refer back to the question and justify the relevance of what is being discussed?
Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer, drawing on relevant concepts and approaches introduced in Health, Illness and Society Part 1 as well as your personal experience.

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Even when patients are aware that personality-related issues are causing significant distress and functional impairment and are open to counseling, treatment can be challenging for both the patient and the therapist. For this Assignment, you examine specific personality disorders and consider therapeutic approaches you might use with clients.

Succinctly, in 1–2 pages, address the following: • Briefly describe the personality disorder you selected, including the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.

Explain a therapeutic approach and a modality you might use to treat a client presenting with this disorder. Explain why you selected the approach and modality, justifying their appropriateness.

Briefly explain what a therapeutic relationship is in psychiatry. Explain how you would share your diagnosis of this disorder with the client in order to avoid damaging the therapeutic relationship.

Compare the differences in how you would share your diagnosis with an individual, a family, and in a group session.