Culture Bound Syndromes In Popular Culture

This volume explores culture-bound syndromes, defined as a pattern of symptoms (mental, physical, and/or relational) experienced only by members of a specific cultural group and recognized as a disorder by members of those groups, and their coverage in popular culture. Encompassing a wide range of popular culture genres and mediums – from film and TV to literature, graphic novels, and anime – the chapters offer a dynamic mix of approaches to analyze how popular culture has engaged with specific culture-bound syndromes such as hwabyung, hikikomori, taijin kyofusho, zou huo ru mo, sati, amok, Cuban hysteria, voodoo death, and others. Spanning a global and interdisciplinary remit, this first-of-its-kind anthology will allow scholars and students of popular culture, media and film studies, comparative literature, medical humanities, cultural psychiatry, and philosophy to explore simultaneously a diversity of popular cultures and culturally rooted mental health disorders.

In the last few years there has been a great revival of interest in culture-bound psychiatric syndromes. A spate of new papers has been published on well known and less familiar syndromes, and there have been a number of attempts to put some order into the field of inquiry. In a review of the literature on culture-bound syndromes up to 1969 Yap made certain suggestions for organizing thinking about them which for the most part have not received general acceptance (see Carr, this volume, p. 199). Through the seventies new descriptive and conceptual work was scarce, but in the last few years books and papers discussing the field were authored or edited by Tseng and McDermott (1981), AI-Issa (1982), Friedman and Faguet (1982) and Murphy (1982). In 1983 Favazza summarized his understanding of the state of current thinking for the fourth edition of the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, and a symposium on culture-bound syndromes was organized by Kenny for the Eighth International Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology. The strong est impression to emerge from all this recent work is that there is no substantive consensus, and that the very concept, "culture-bound syndrome" could well use some serious reconsideration. As the role of culture-specific beliefs and prac tices in all affliction has come to be increasingly recognized it has become less and less clear what sets the culture-bound syndromes apart.

This handbook provides a review of relevant topics concerning the interface between culture and mental health, with a particular focus on child-rearing practices and transcultural issues in the perinatal period, infancy, and early childhood. It discusses how to work with infants and families from diverse backgrounds and addresses the most common issues that medical and mental health experts may encounter when working with individuals from other cultures. Chapters examine the considerable range of child-rearing strategies and how families from various cultural groups approach issues such as infant sleep, feeding practices, and care during pregnancy. In addition, chapters address conditions that are seen mostly within a particular sociocultural context and are “culture bound” syndromes or states. The handbook concludes with the editors’ recommendations for future research directions. Topics featured in this handbook include: Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping within the clinical field. Cultural responses to infant crying and irritability. Cultural issues in response to chronic conditions and malformations in infancy. The healthy immigrant effect. The use of folk and traditionally therapeutic remedies. The Clinical Handbook of Transcultural Infant Mental Health is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in infancy and early child development, child and school psychology, pediatrics, social work, obstetrics, and nursing.

Why do some men become convinced—despite what doctors tell them—that their penises have, simply, disappeared. Why do people across the world become convinced that they are cursed to die on a particular date—and then do? Why do people in Malaysia suddenly “run amok”? In The Geography of Madness, acclaimed magazine writer Frank Bures investigates these and other “culture-bound” syndromes, tracing each seemingly baffling phenomenon to its source. It’s a fascinating, and at times rollicking, adventure that takes the reader around the world and deep into the oddities of the human psyche. What Bures uncovers along the way is a poignant and stirring story of the persistence of belief, fear, and hope.

Many fascinating and important psychological disorders are either omitted from our current diagnostic systems or rarely covered during graduate or medical training. As a result, most mental health students and trainees are never taught to identify, diagnose, or treat them. This lack of attention has real-world consequences not only for patients, but for basic science as well. Unusual and Rare Psychological Disorders collects and synthesizes the scientific and clinical literatures for 21 lesser-known conditions. The coverage is broad, ranging from exploding head syndrome and koro to body integrity identity disorder and persistent genital arousal disorder. All chapters follow a uniform structure and introduce each disorder with a vivid clinical vignette. After discussing the historical and cultural contexts for the disorder, authors describe the typical symptoms, associated features, current role in diagnostic systems (if any), and etiologies. Clinically relevant information on assessment and differential diagnosis is also provided. Finally, authors review the treatment options and suggest future directions for research. This unique and engaging volume will not only be a useful resource for researchers and clinicians who already possess expertise in the more well-known manifestations of psychopathology, but it will also be of interest to students and trainees in the mental health professions.