Transcultural psychiatric disorders

Question 1

What’s Amok and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 1

• south-east Asia → usually in Malaysian men
• getting a weapon followed by a series of attacks/murders of everyone around them
• series of attacks can last for hours and be terminated only by an attacker being killed (by someone or himself)
• if an attacker is not killed → there is a stupor/sleep lasting 1 day and amnesia of the event
• it is thought of being a dissociative disorder

Question 2

What is Koro and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 2

• seen in Asian men →especially in Chinese
• fear that the penis is retracting into the abdomen
• some may worry that full retraction will lead to death
• more common in people who had a limited education

Question 3

What is Piblokto and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 3

• women living within Arctic Circle
• sudden onset hysteria (screaming, crying) and bizarre behaviour (may include removal of clothes, ingestion of faeces and violence)
• attacks last couple of hours
• amnesia often occur after the event

Question 4

What is Dhat and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 4

• Indian males
• anxiety and a belief that sperm is being lost in the urine
• often with excessive guilt about masturbation
• belief that semen is a ‘vital fluid’, even more important that blood and it’s loss leads to fatigue

Question 5

What is Latah and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 5

• women in North - Africa and Far East
• exaggerated frightened response
• women sometimes start to repeat the words of another person (echolalia) or obeying their commands
• amnesia often occur after the event

Question 6

What is Susto and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 6

• South America
• severe depressive episode→ usually occurs after traumatic event
• physical symptoms often occur: diarrhoea, nervous tics
• it is thought (within certain cultures) that it is caused by separation of the soul from the body

Question 7

What is Windigo and what culture is it associated with?

Answer 7

• native North American tribes
• belief that a body is possessed by a spirit that craves human flesh
• leads to obsessive thoughts and compulsions regarding violence and cannibalism