• In Medicine and Medical Anthropology, a culture-specific syndrome or culture-bound syndrome is a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognisable disease only within a specific society or culture

• Refers to Mental Illness, as described in non Western Societies
• It is said to be ''bound'' to a particular culture
• Cultural interpretations of metal disorders & the meanings they attach to them

ARE CULTURAL BOUND SYNDROME UNIQUIE TO A PARTICULAR CULTURE OR ARE THEY UNIVERSAL

IF THEY ARE UNIVERSAL IS IT SIMPLY THE WAY PATHOLOGY IS EXPRESSED & INTERPRETED THAT IS DIFFERENT

If we look at:

• Schizophrenia
• Paranoia
• Multiple Personality
• Stress Response
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Bulimia

Answer is Yes they are universal as Diseases BUT how they are interpreted are different

Theoretical Positions to c.b.s

1. Exclusionist Position

• Are believed to be different & unique
• Can not be classified to western diseases
• Viewed as an Illness not a Disease
• Cultural belief attached to them

2. Inclusionist Position

• Both Nature & nurturer (nature-culture continuum)
• Each aspects is shaped by the other
• No Disease is unique to a particular culture
• All Diseases have nature & nurturer components attached to them

3. Multiaspect- inclusionist

• All diseases are equal
• Have Culture, Biology & Psychology attached to them
• All diseases around the world are C.B Illnesses
• Therefore this word C.B.S does not exist

Case Studies

Arctic Hysteria

• First documented in the Eskimo Society in the 19^th century (1892)
• Found in the Arctic (Northern Greenland)
• Considered to be a mental illness
• Occurred during the dark winter months
• Eskimos lived in small structures
• Men and women used to come out of there homes, take of their clothes
• Run and jump in the snow and icy water
• In a fit of rage, run screaming and shouting
• People from the Society goes out looking for them and bring them back before they die of Hyperthermia
• Westerners called this Artic Hysteria
• Interpretation
• Winter last 6 months (confirmed to small space)
• Frustration is high
• Feeling Cluster phobic- need get out
• Stress levels are high
• Brake free
• Stress Response

Grisi Siknis

• Misko Indians in Central America,
• Documented 100 years ago (found be highly contagious)
• It affects mostly young women (starting at age 15 leading up to 60) but men can get it as well
• Go into hysterical fit
• They say that the devil calls to them; it hits them and even has sex with them
• The person need to be subdued
• They are tied down by roped and gagged, taken back to the village
• They are taken to the traditional healer for treatment
• With time the sickness goes away
• It may happen more than once to a person Illness sequence
• Shape headache and loss of appetite
• Falls down in a state of fit
• Thereafter wakes up and starts running
• While running pick up things start throwing them
• Screaming and curing at people, using strange words
• They say person is possessed
• She calls name of a particular boy
• This young man is expected to go bring back her back
• She gets tied up to calm down
• Healer comes in and treats her with stream that contain traditional herbs, which she needs to inhale in 4 directions
• This suppose to calm her down
• Many young girls experience this illness
• This can be contagious
• If a girl is experiencing this, mothers bring their daughters in the home and locked them up, in fear of their daughters getting it
• Sometimes it happens at big gathers were many girls collapse and act out
• People say:
• G.S is caused by the devil (combination of Christian & Indian Belief)
• Swanta in Miskito culture is a short man, lives in the forest, does evil things
• Liwa (mermaid) lives in water and seduces men, she attracts widowers & single men. If they sleep with her they have disable children & get sicknesses
• Swanta & Liwa are demons
• We see the Christian & Naïve beliefs are combined (belief in Sacrilege)
• Rape of a girl caused by Swanta & Liwa cause of disease
• Seen in Christian terms as God casting out the fallen angle (the devil), can to earth in the forest they known as Swanta & Liwa
• Interpretations
• G.S is a patterned stress response
• Need look at historical factors
• Miskito Indians lived on the coastlands & had contact with Christian missionaries
• They outlawed the belief systems of the Miskito Indians
• Forced to go into the cash economy to work to pay taxes
• This brought added stress
• They used Grisi Siknis TO ACT OUT AGAINST THE COLONIAL RULE. To vent their frustration
• With women, they are expected to care for the children & take care of the household & take abuse from their husbands, GENDER OPPRESSION
• Women can't take it anymore & need to release their anger & depression, they ACT OUT
• Get attention from the community they use G.S as an excuse. Called Grisis Mwaia (attention seeking)
• Young girls, they are expected be modest, dutiful, obedient & must not go out alone
• Relationship before marriage is forbidden, marriage is arranged
• Frustrated with this they act out, and call boy's name (her boyfriend) so they can be alone
• They have sex with their boyfriends & say they were raped by Swanta
• People are non judgmental, they do not blame the person but the illness, behaviour is justified
• Conclusion
• People have different ways of handling stress
• C.B.S need to understood within the historical context
• G.S is a stress response and a brake away from the norm of the society

Anorexia Nervosa

• Western type of c.b.s= self starvation
• Occurs mainly among young girls/women: also can affect boys/men
• It is characterized by (symptoms)
• Fear of gaining weight
• Refusal to maintain optimal body weight
• Think they are fat
• Hence it is Psychological
• Females miss 3/4 menstrual cycle
• Hyperactive
• It is a Psychological disease
• Distorted view of their bodies
• This condition is brought upon by emotional disorders that lead a person to worry/get anxious about their physical appearance and body image

CAUSED BY WHAT WE CALL TODAY CULTURAL TRANSCRIPTS

• We are living a the technological era, consumed by media
• Media projects beauty as people with perfect bodies
• It was found in many western societies' girls as young as 7 are afraid of getting fat
• Developed FAT phobia
• People are concerned what the media projects
• High achievers in families are supposed to a certain way, can be family pressure to b the perfect person
• Fatness is no longer valued
• Culture starting to change call this Cultural Change Syndrome
• As a result of urbanization/westernization
• Advancement in technology
• Direct influence of the media
• Some Religions (in particular eastern religions) promote Anorexia
• Women are required to undertake long fasts
• By fasting it is believed one obtains higher spirituality, this helps their husbands & children progress
• At first it was a western disease, through globalization it as now spread across the world
• Hence it is no longer culture bound