CULTURE-BOUND SYNDROMES

The ''culture-bound syndromes'' are a heterogenous collection of folk terms, some of which describe true syndromes, whereas others represent culturally determined notions of disease causation or idioms df distress. The growing sophistication and cultural sensitivity of modern psychiatry has led to renewed interest in these entities. With this increasing focus, issues regarding the best way to understand and classify these entities are emerging. This review cites past attempts to understand these phenomena, provides an overview of the best-described syndromes, and proposes alternative ways to conceptualize and classify them.