(, 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.
Classification
Despite comparisons to
panic attacks, 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 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
* Nervous breakdown
* Susto
Susto (, ) is a cultural illness primarily among Latin American cultures. It is described as a condition of "chronic somatic suffering stemming from emotional trauma or from witnessing traumatic experiences lived by others".
Symptoms
Among the ...
*'' Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown''
* Hwabyeong
* Posttraumatic stress disorder
References
{{reflist
Culture-bound syndromes
Medical anthropology
Latin American culture