(, also known as "Puerto Rican syndrome"
[Steinberg, Marlene (1990) Transcultural issues in psychiatry: The ''Ataque'' and multiple personality disorder; Dissociation 3(1):31-33 https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/1494]) is a psychological syndrome mostly associated, in the United States, with Spanish-speaking people from the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, although commonly identified among all Iberian-descended cultures. translates into English as "attack of nerves",
[
] although it is used in its common cultural form to refer to a specific pattern of symptoms, rather than being a general term for feeling nervous. The condition appears in Appendix I of the revised fourth edition of the ''
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...
'' (DSM-IV-TR) as a
culture-bound syndrome
In medicine and medical anthropology, a culture-bound syndrome, culture-specific syndrome, or folk illness is a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or cu ...
.
Classification
Despite comparisons to
panic attack
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...
s, investigators have identified as a separate syndrome with measured differences in anxiety sensitivity, and types of attacks. Marlene Steinberg, an Associate Research Scientist at Yale University stated that because it is similar to Multiple Personality Disorder, some Hispanics may be misdiagnosed with an syndrome instead.
[
]
Symptoms
Reported aspects of the syndrome include uncontrollable screaming or shouting, crying, trembling, sensations of heat rising in the chest and head, dissociative
Dissociatives, colloquially dissos, are a subclass of hallucinogens which distort perception of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and/or self. Although many kinds of drugs are capable of ...
experiences, and verbal or physical aggression.
History
was first mentioned after studies were conducted by US psychiatrists who focused on healthcare for Hispanic populations, particularly individuals who were Puerto Rican and living in the United States .
See also
* Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states.
The di ...
* Nervous breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
* Susto
*''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' ( es, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film brought Almodóvar to ...
''
* Hwabyeong
''Hwabyeong'' or ''Hwapyŏng'' (hangul: 화병, hanja: ) is a Korean somatization disorder, a mental illness which arises when people are unable to confront their anger as a result of conditions which they perceive to be unfair. Hwabyeong is kno ...
* Posttraumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
References
{{reflist
Culture-bound syndromes
Medical anthropology
Latin American culture