A few years I attended a conference where Anthony Marsella from the University of Hawaii at Manoa gave a fascinating talk. He was interweaving topics such as Global Challenges, Peace, Social Justice with Cultural psychology and psychopathology.
I remember being engrossed by the idea of Cultural Psychopathology. From a cross-cultural standpoint psychopathology is understood not only in terms of cognitive or physiological mechanisms, but also in terms of its social context and norms.
In addition, syndromes and folk illness can be considered within Culture-bound syndrome, culture-specific syndrome or folk illness. There are numerous combinations of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture.
The fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) classifies syndromes as culture-bound syndromes. Here is an extract.
| Name | Geographical localization/populations |
| Running amok | Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore |
| ataque de nervios | Latinos |
| bilis, cólera | Latinos |
| bouffée délirante | West Africa and Haiti |
| brain fag | West African students |
| dhat syndrome | India |
| falling-out, blacking out | Southern United States and Caribbean |
| ghost sickness | American Indian |
| Hwabyeong | Korean |
| koro | Chinese and Malaysian populations in southeast Asia; Assam; occasionally in West |
| latah | Malaysia and Indonesia |
| locura | Latinos in the United States and Latin America |
| evil eye | Mediterranean; Hispanic populations |
| nervios | Latinos in the United States and Latin America |
| Piblokto | Arctic and subarctic Eskimo populations |
| Qigong psychotic reaction | Chinese |
| rootwork | African American and White populations in southern United States; Caribbean |
| sangue dormido | Portuguese populations in Cape Verde |
| shenjing shuairuo | Chinese |
| shenkui | Chinese |
| shinbyeong | Korean |
| spell | African American and White populations in the southern United States |
| susto | Latinos in the United States; Mexico, Central America and South America |
| taijin kyofusho | Japanese |
| zār | Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, and other North African and Middle Eastern societies |
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