Culture‑Bound Syndromes and Cultural Concepts of Distress in Psychiatry

Authors

  • Tomás Teodoro Department of Psychiatry, Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; CHRC – Comprehensive Health Research Centre, NOVA Medical School – Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4603-3946
  • Pedro Afonso Department of Medical Psychology and Psychiatry, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51338/rppsm.2020.v6.i3.139

Keywords:

Anxiety Disorders, Culture, Ethnopsychology, Mental Disorders, Psychological Distress

Abstract

Culture‑bound syndromes (CBS) and cultural concepts of distress include syndromes or disease manifestations whose occurrence is related to particular cultural contexts. The term CBS is controversial, because ultimately all psychiatric and medical conditions are associated with culture. They constitute different points of view on mental health based on alternative explanatory models of mental distress. These idioms of distress have experienced a growing interest in Western countries either by an increase in the number of cases or the influence that transcultural psychiatry has come to conquer. This review describes clinical, epidemiological and contextual characteristics of most commonly reported CBS and briefly discusses the relationship between culture and psychiatric disorders. Modern societies are increasingly multi‑ethnic and multicultural and thus, discussion of these concepts remains relevant, aiming to integrate CBS in current classification systems or establishing criteria that best define them as legitimate nosological entities.

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Published

2020-12-30

How to Cite

Teodoro, T., & Afonso, P. (2020). Culture‑Bound Syndromes and Cultural Concepts of Distress in Psychiatry. Revista Portuguesa De Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental, 6(3), 118–126. https://doi.org/10.51338/rppsm.2020.v6.i3.139

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Narrative Review

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