In preparation for our discussion on culture and mental health, here is something on culturally bound syndromes.
Culturally bound syndromes (Birx, 2006; Tseng, 2000) are combinations of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a
recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture. There are no objective
biochemical or structural alterations of body organs or functions, and the disease
is not recognized in other cultures. Examples are koro (Chowdhury, 1996;
Fishbain, Barsky & Goldberg, 1989; Melechi, 2003; Schroer, 2006; Vaughan,
2002), Arctic hysteria or pibloktoq (Dick, 1995; Melechi, 2003), dhat (Jadhav,
2007), taijin kyofusho (Iwase,
Nakao, Takaishi, Yorifuji, Ikezawa & Takeda,
2000; Melechi, 2003), hwa-byung (Park, Kim, Schwartz-Barcott & Kim, 2002), shenjing shuairuo (Lee, 1999; Lee & Wong, 1995), qi-gong psychotic reaction (Hwang, 2007), amok (Melechi,
2003; Williamson, 2007), windigo (Melechi, 2003;
Rezneck, 1991; Teicher, 1956), susto (Mysyk, 1998; Rubel, O'Nell, & Collado-Ardâon, 1984; Weller,
Baer, Garcia & Rocha, 2008), morgellons (Paquette,
2007), latah (Melechi, 2003) and mate Maori (Hiroa, 1910; Metge, 2004). The fact
that these syndromes exist at all could be used to argue that psychiatry is
inconsistent. Why should it be that some disorders only appear in some cultures if
mental illness is a universal constant? (Rezneck, 1991).
References:
Birx, H.J. (2006). Encyclopedia
of anthropology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Inc.
Chowdhury, A.N. (1996). The definition and
classification of koro. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 20: 41-65.
Dick, L. (1995). “Pibloktoq” (Arctic hysteria): a construction of
European-Inuit relations? Arctic Anthropology 32, 2, 1-42.
Fishbain, D.A., Barsky, S., &
Goldberg, M. (1989). “Koro” (genital retraction syndrome): psychotherapeutic interventions. American Journal of Psychotherapy 43, 1, 87-91.
Iwase, M., Nakao, K., Takaishi, J.,
Yorifuji, K., Ikezawa, K., & Takeda, M. (2000).
An empirical classification of social anxiety: Performance, interpersonal and offensive. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 54,
67-75.
Hiroa, T.R. (1910). Medicine amongst the Maoris, in ancient and modern
times. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Hwang, W-C. (2007). Qi-gong psychotic reaction in a Chinese-American
woman. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 31, 547-560.
Jadhav, S. (2007). Dhis and dhat: Evidence of
semen retention syndrome amongst white
Britons. Anthropology & Medicine 14,
3, 229-239.
Lee, S. (1999). Diagnosis postponed: Shenjing shuairuo and the transformation
of psychiatry in post-Mao China. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 23,
349-380.
Lee, S., & Wong, K.C. (1995).
Rethinking neurasthenia: The illness concepts of shenjing shuairuo among Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong. Culture, Medicine
and Psychiatry 19, 91-111.
Melechi, A. (2003). Fugitive
minds: On madness, sleep and other twilight afflictions. London, England: Arrow
Books.
Metge, J. (2004). Rautahi: The Maoris of New Zealand. London, England: Routledge.
Mysyk, A. (1998).
Susto: An illness of the poor. Dialectical
Anthropology 23, 187-202.
Paquette, M. (2007). Morgellons: Disease or delusions? Perspectives in Psychiatric
Care 43, 2, 67-68.
Park, Y-J., Kim, H.S., Schwartz-Barcott, D., & Kim, J-W. (2002). The conceptual structure
of hwa-byung in middle-aged Korean women. Health
Care for Women International 23:389–397.
Rezneck, L. (1991). The philosophical
defence of psychiatry. London, England: Routledge.
Rubel, A.J., O'Nell, C.W., & Collado-Ardâon, R. (1984). Susto – a folk illness. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
Schroer, K. (2006). When
size matters: Genital retraction syndromes in cultural perspective. Focus
Anthropology. Retrieved on 6 November 2009 from http://www.focusanthro.org/archive/2005-2006.html
Teicher, M.I. (1956). Windigo
psychosis: A study of a relationship between belief and behaviour among the Indians of northeast Canada.
Unpublished doctoral thesis,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Tseng, W-S. (2000). Handbook of cultural psychiatry. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Vaughan (2002). Koro: a natural
history of penis panics. Retrieved from http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/9/16/81843/6555
Weller, S.C., Baer, R.D., Garcia,
J.C., & Rocha, A.L.S. (2008). Susto and nervios: Expressions for stress and depression. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 32,
406-420.
Williamson, T. (2007). Communicating amok in Malaysia. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 14,
341-365.
 |
| A victim of koro? |
For those of you who do not have access to DSM-IV-TR, here is the list of culturally bound syndromes as per Appendix 1 of that publication:
amok; ataque de nervios; bilis; boufee delirante; brain fag; dhat; falling-out; ghost sickness; hwa-byung; koro; latah; locura; mal de ojo; nervios; pibloktoq; qi-gong psychotic reaction; rootwork; sangue dormido; shenjing shuairuo; shen-k'uei; shin byung; spell; susto; taijin kyofusho; zar.
Exactly. I don't believe there is a universal constant of any 'thing'.
ReplyDeleteJust as the lack of homeostasis is a sign of being dead, how on earth can psychology be consistent when we are dealing with "individuals"?
I like the idea that any syndrome is a deviation from the fine line we walk as 'normal'... individually. I think we are reconciliatory beings i.e. we make adjustments to stimuli all the time, arguably, between our goodness and our evil, our anima and animus, our aging and our youth etc. These are all concepts of the mind, every split second we are faced with a choice, to this end we are dualistic beings. I think we all have the propensity to "split" at any time. A culture may have a belief system that is highly superstitious...to us. But we cannot argue this superstition as unbelievable...it is their belief. Belief systems are very powerful, even "science" now recognises the mind-body connection. I am certain psychology is able to make diagnoses 'fit" but only to the degree that we "fit" into certain types..end of story. I'm not saying these labels aren't useful, they are. I am saying that 'syndromes' need to be fine tuned. The DSM-IV-TR is only useful as a marketing tool for the drug manufacturers (well hush ma mouth).