Locura, which translates to "
insanity" in Spanish,
is a mental disorder characterized as severe chronic psychosis.
The term refers to a
culture-bound syndrome, found mostly in
Latin America and Latin Americans in the
United States.
Also referred to as ''ataques de locura'' (meaning "madness attacks"),
it is categorized as a more severe form of ''nervios''
''
ataque de nervios''
with symptoms appearing similar to those of
schizophrenia.
As the term may have multiple meanings in multiple environments, research on locura is limited and conflicting.
The term can be used loosely in Spanish when discussing madness in other psychological meaning, specifically describing a "deviance from the norm due to mental illness."
Besides for the implications found in the DSM-IV, the word is not used in English.
Classification
In the 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), locura is classified as a culture-bound syndrome. Culture-bound syndromes can be found in an appendix of the manual named, ''Outline for Cultural Formulation and Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes.''
However, the
DSM - 5 does not include locura in its equivalent appendix named, ''Glossary of Cultural Concepts of Distress.'' One author chooses to describe the symptoms as correlating to a
somatoform disorder
A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) dsm5.org. Retrieved April 8, 2014. is any mental disorder that manifests as physical symptoms that suggest illness or injury, but cannot be explained fully by a general ...
of conversive type.
Signs and symptoms
Locura is thought to develop during times of stress or vulnerability in one's life, as well as the accumulation of difficulties or traumas.
Another possible cause is through the manifestation of supernatural maneuvers,
or maleficios (meaning "curses").
The DSM-IV includes symptoms of incoherence, agitation, inability to follow rules of social interaction, unpredictability, and possible violence.
Other sources include headache, fainting, convulsive attacks, difficulty in breathing, an urge to run away, hallucinations, and visions of people, visions, or demons.
History
Locura has been examined in an indigenous group in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
called
Embera.
After four members of the Embera community began exhibiting symptoms later described as, "repetitive episodes of what resembled a dissociative fugue disorder,"
a local shaman explained that the outbreak could be attributed to a shaman from a different region. The local shaman attempted their own treatment, but the affected member's symptoms continued and after six months, they eventually chose to seek help in the closest province. Soon after they arrived, their local relatives began to develop the same symptoms. After five more individuals presented similarly, all nine members began seeking forms of treatment including care from different types of religious healers, psychiatrists, and antipsychotic drugs. After none of these tactics proved successful, a shaman from the
Chocó province in Colombia was brought to attempt treatment. The shaman's treatments reportedly reduced the frequency of the symptoms greatly in all of the patients and eliminated symptoms completely in two patients.
See also
*
Ataques de nervios
*
Culture-bound syndrome
References
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Psychopathological syndromes
Culture-bound syndromes