Post #7: Non-Western Medicine

Culture-bound syndromes (or culture-specific syndromes) are recurrent "patterns of aberrant behavior and troubling experience" with a strong psychosocial component which are typically unique to one culture as they tend to express cultural values and concerns (link). This basically means that a culture-bound syndrome would only be viewed as a "real" disease by its specific cultural community while it is not recognized by other cultures or the medical community. This brings up the point that there exists a degree of cultural variability in our perception of illness. That is, illness is actually a culture-specific concept that differs from the medical concept of "disease" which refers to a physiological health problem.

But even-though culture-bound syndromes might not be grouped in the same category as medical conditions and diseases like malaria or tuberculosis, their physical manifestations and symptoms are often quite powerful, suggesting that there is some truth in the notion that one could think oneself to death. The two most interesting Chinese-specific syndromes mentioned on Dr. Timothy McCajor Hall's website are shenkui, suo yang (or koro) and qi-gong psychotic reaction. The shenkui and suo yang are interesting in how their symptoms seem to be very much related to Chinese cultural views about sexuality. Firstly, in shenkui, which is another form of semen loss syndrome found in many cultures in east and south Asia, a man feels dizziness, backaches, nocturnal emissions, "white urine", sexual dysfunction (impotence, premature ejaculation) and general weakness believed to be due to the loss of yang or positive male energy. In shenkui, yang is believed to be lost through excessive sex or masturbation with the symptoms listed above seen as symptoms of lost yang (link). The Yin Yang concept lies deep at the core of traditional Chinese science and philosophy. So to get a better understanding of this syndrome and its effects on individuals, medical anthropologist must embrace an emic interpretive approach to see how health and illness are related to other cultural systems such as religion and philosophy. As a comparison, the windigo syndrome among the North American Algonquian Indian population could be similarly viewed as a somatization of cultural beliefs about cannibalism and demonic possession. These beliefs were so strong that a person who had broken the cannibalism taboo due to famine would develop a craving for human flesh even when other food sources were readily available (link).