Grandparents participate in decisions about their grandchildren s health care. Many recent refugees seeking western treatment have intestinal parasites, tuberculosis, anemia, depression or post traumatic stress syndrome. Constipation and diarrhea are more common due to the lack of roughage in the diet. Perfect health is a balance between the spirit and the body. When someone is ill, Hmong will seek out the help of a shaman to determine if the cause of the illness is in the realm of the spirit.
Spiritual causes require religious remedies.
Hmong also recognize physical causation. Physical causes require an appropriate response such as medication, various Hmong treatments or seeking western medical care. Traditional spiritual causes of illness include evil spirits or because one s own spirit has left the body. Someone may be ill because an evil spirit or an ancestor is unhappy with the individual or that individual s family. Perhaps someone has done something to offend the family s spirits or ancestors.