Latah is a condition in which abnormal behaviors result from a person experiencing a sudden shock or other external stressor almost exclusively having been observed in persons from Southeast Asia. When induced, the affected person typically engages in such behaviors as screaming, cursing, dance movements, uncontrollable laughter,
mimicry
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...
and command obedience. Physical symptoms include an increased heart rate and profuse sweating, but no clear physiological causality beyond the apparent relationship between sudden shock and/or severe emotional stress have been identified. Whereas no research has emerged indicating whether the behavior is caused by a Genetic disorder unique to those of Southeast Asian ancestry, a set of
psychosomatic
A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) cultural anthropological factors, or another cause not yet hypothesized, it can thus not be determined whether the disorder is distinct to southeast Asian persons, or that persons with the disorder in southeast Asia simply express symptoms in a fashion unique to the local cultures of the region, either, until further scientific research of the rare condition is published.
Latah was initially considered a culture-specific
startle disorder
In animals, including humans, the startle response is a largely unconscious defensive response to sudden or threatening stimuli, such as sudden noise or sharp movement, and is associated with negative affect.Rammirez-Moreno, David. "A computation ...
that was historically regarded as personal difference rather than an illness. Similar conditions have been recorded within other cultures and locations. For example, there are the so-called Jumping Frenchmen of Maine, ''imu'' among women of the
Ainu people
The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...
of Japan, ''mali-mali'' or ''silok'' among Filipinos, and ''bat-schi'' () among Thais; however, the connection among these syndromes is controversial.
The disorder, particularly the command obedience symptoms, was studied by CIA research scientist
Louis Jolyon West
Louis Jolyon West (October 6, 1924 – January 2, 1999) was an American psychiatrist involved in the public sphere. In 1954, at the age of 29 and with no previous tenure-track appointment, he became a full professor and chair of psychiatry at ...
as part of the illegal
MK-Ultra
Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), intended to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in interrogations to weak ...
experimental development and testing of both existing and theoretical methods CIA would use to effectively hijack and subvert individual free will, with the ultimate aim of developing a program combining these methods effective enough that the agency could remotely control a victim so completely that a targeted individual could be reliably 'broken' psychologically to a conscious dissociative state of total submission and obedience to CIA commands that were abundantly evident to be in direct opposition to a victim's immediate health and safety. The objectives of these crimes against humanity are described by a
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
whistleblower familiar with the program as their "search for a Manchurian candidate"'', an expendable
NOC
A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...
or unwitting Asset that could be used to carry out illegal political assassinations, suicide attacks and other covert CIA criminal activities typical of the breathtaking list of criminal activities undertaken routinely by the CIA. Not least of such criminal enterprised being the aforementioned MKUltra experiments, which included West's efforts to trigger symptoms believed unique to those affected naturally (or deliberately afflicted) with Latah, all in extreme secrecy on non-consenting patients in the US and abroad, with the direct authorization of DCI Richard Helms and supervision of the famously-despised Sidney Gottlieb, who covertly provided West with CIA funding for the research. Due to the destruction of most MKUltra records by Richard Helms in the agency's illegal obstruction of justice surrounding the
Church Committee
The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence ...
investigation into revelations of the agency's still-unresolved escalation into an almost exclusively criminal organization, thus it is unknown whether West's efforts to induce the command obedience symptom in unwitting subjects not previously afflicted with the disorder were successful or not, a considerable loss to the neurological sciences given the lack of understanding as to the nature of Latah Disorder to this day.
Earliest record
The earliest mention of latah is in J. R. Logan's journal from 1849 when he traveled from Melaka to Naning. Though this is only a possible reference, by the 1860s, latah had been clearly identified in Malaya and Java. Seen first as merely a "cerebral affection", little was understood about latah during this time. O'Brien's notes from the early– to mid–1880s are the first gathering of information on latah recorded. He observed that latah was more common in women than men, and more likely to occur in more mature, rather than younger, women. From many of the original accounts of European travelers, latah does not seem to have changed much in either affected demographic population nor in symptoms.
The British colonial administrator Frank Swettenham wrote about latah in his volume of essays ''Malay Sketches'' (1895). Swettenham describes how two policemen from
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
stationed in Selangor in 1874 who were affected with the condition were made the victims of pranks by their colleagues.
Signs and symptoms
Latah can affect people differently; someone can have a very strong reaction or a slight reaction during a latah episode. Every instance of latah has been acquired over time. Those who are affected, which by an overwhelming number are middle-aged to older women, are not born latah. It typically occurs around the time of menopause. There is a lack of latah in the higher social strata of Malay and Java, which suggests they are more likely to suppress their responses than those who belong to lower social classes.
A latah episode occurs after being startled (poking, shouting, something falling). During an episode, a latah person will begin to shout obscenities, imitate words or gestures of those around them or even those on TV, and will often obey any commands given to them – no matter how outrageous or against cultural norms they are. Persons with latah make movements reminiscent of behaviors normally peculiar to certain childhood developmental stages. The person is unlikely to remember anything occurring during the episode.
Malay perspective
When Malays were asked why they thought that women were more likely to suffer from latah, they responded with the cultural explanation that women have less "semangat" or soul substance. They also said women are simply easier to tease than men, and coupling these two together, latah becomes more readily observable and developed throughout recurrent provocation in women than in men. This also accounts for the higher prevalence of latah in lower status persons, as they are more vulnerable to abuse than others. The Malay also believe women are more susceptible because they lose more blood than men, through menstruation. Some Malay believe that excess tickling of a child will predispose them to latah later in life.
In the DSM
Latah was included in ''
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 under the "Dissociative Disorder: Not Otherwise Specified" section as a culture–bound syndrome. DSM IV describes latah as a hypersensitivity to sudden fright, often with echopraxia, echolalia, command obedience, and dissociative or trancelike behavior. It mentions other cultures where latah is found, but the only further information the DSM-IV provides is that in Malaysia, it is more often found in middle–aged women. It has been removed from DSM-5, and rather than the DSM-5 expanding upon the DSM IV's list of culture–bound syndromes, it has instead provided cross-lists for more commonly known disorders that a culture-bound syndrome might be classified as. DSM-5 has taken out the "culture–bound syndrome" language and replaced it with more "sensitive" language, and the glossary where the now shortened list of previously recognized culture–bound syndromes is titled "Other Specified" and "Unspecified" dissociative disorders. A more general discussion, involving the formation of a cultural identity, explanation, and assessment, has been added.
In popular culture
William S. Burroughs mentions latah several times in his 1959 novel '' Naked Lunch'', "a parody of modern mass man under modern conditioning programmes of advertising and public yinduced morality", according to Eric Mottram.Parkingson A.D. Giving Away the Basic American Root[ed]ness /ref> Burroughs described latah as involving echopraxia, as well as being forcibly induced rather than spontaneously occurring. Latah is also mentioned in Burroughs' 1963 novel '' The Yage Letters''.
Possible causes
The onset of latah is often associated with stress. In a study done by Tanner and Chamberland in 2001, a significant number of research participants had experienced a life stressor (such as a child or husband dying) just before becoming latah. Additionally, a large number of participants from many research studies have reported strange dreams occurring just before the onset of latah. These dreams usually had a sexual element to them, often involving penises. According to Tanner and Chamberland, perhaps the dreams, although with variation, indicate some sort of dysfunction in a specific anatomical area. Exploring this further might lead to more insights as to the cause and/or cure of latah. Osborne (2001) states that latah is a possible emotional outlet in a stifling culture.Osborne, L. (2001, May). "Regional Disturbances". ''New York Times''. Retrieved April 6, 2016. Winzeler's believes that latah is less demeaning for women than it is for men, and that women actually have more freedom in society because they are not held to as strict of standards as men are. He argues that as men age, they become more concerned with personal dignity and poise while women become less so. Because of this, women feel more freedom to engage in latah behavior, while men do not.