2. Attack Symptoms
3. Aftermath Symptoms
1. Prodromal Symptoms
- Instant change from antisocial to excitable, lunatic behaviour
- Tearing clothes off
- Throwing furniture/objects
- Screaming Obscenely
- Running wildly through the tundra, climbing, placing themselves in dangerous positions
- Convulsive seizures
- Animal Noises
(Landy, 1985)
Piblokto
- Individual collapses after seizure
- Comatose state of sleep (only reacts to pain stimuli)
- Subsequent amnesia
(Landy, 1985)
Early symptoms
- Anti-social behaviour
- Irritation
- Social Withdrawal
(Landy, 1985)
Important to Note
- No single recurring symptom: individual and environmental factors
- So there’s a huge pool of possible symptoms, however each seizure only contains certain symptoms. (Symptoms differ from person to person)
(Gussow, 1985)
Inuit/Eskimo populations
Child rearing
- Sexual liberty
- Only "natit" is worn in the house
- Children walk around the house naked
- Gender differences seen from about the age of 12
- Girls & domestic duties - age 12
- Boys & hunting duties -mid-teens (Hrdlicka, 1941)
Female Role in the Inuit Culture
- Sexual and physical abuse (Brill, 1912)
- Marriage & rights within it
- Sexual liberty - wife exchange
- Male vs. female rights
- Woman's sexual right is the property of the male (Holm, 1914)
- Unmarried women are treated as a common property (Parker, 1962)
- Love deprivation as a result of being treated like a servant (Holm, 1914)
Similar Conditions
Piblokto
Conclusion & Critiques
Role of culture
Conditions similar to Piblokto have been observed in several cultures
- Ataque de Nervios, US/Caribbean
- Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts USA
- Few case studies
- Ill-defined symptoms
- Similar to other recognised disorders
- Racially and culturally biased studies
- Only etic approaches
- Emphasis on spiritual life -(Parker, 1962)
- Role of children within the culture
- No gender differences in childhood
- No harsh discipline
- No punishment (Stefannson, 1914)
- Permissive atmosphere - (Honigmann, 1959)
Symptoms
- Fainting*
- Hysterical crying*
- Disordered speech
- Frenzied motor activity*
- Tearing clothes*
- Running aimlessly*
- Flying attempts
- Animal imitations*
- Bodily contortions*
- Rigidity
- Seizures*
- Burning sensation
- Choking sensations
- Hallucinations
- Loss of hearing/speech/memory*
- Babbling*
- Insults*
- Gestures of assault*
- Loss of memory*
- Melancholia
(Zeller, 1990)
Salem Witch Trials
Symptoms
Cultural Conditions
- Salem, Massachusetts (1691-1692)
- 10 initial women
- Accused of witchcraft
- 20 executions, 5 died in prison
(Zeller, 1990)
- Intense emotional upset*
- Tremors
- Fainting*
- Epileptic episodes*
- Agitation*
- Uncontrolled screaming*
- Crying
- Anger*
- Depression
- Heat sensations
- Dissociative episodes*
- Amnesia*
- Depersonalisation
(Nogueria,De Jesus Mari & Razzouk, 2015)
- Late October – Late February
- Weather*
- Dark, cold
- Diet
- Low calcium
- Malnutrition
- Low light levels*
- Patriarchal, puritanical society
- Fear of witches and devil
- High anxiety *
- High stress *
- Gender inequality
- Did not suggest witchcraft for 2 months
- Suggests unusual symptoms
(Zeller, 1990)
Causes of Piblokto
Conditions
- Spanish speaking regions in the Caribbean
- Social and economic difficulties
- Gender inequality
- High stress
- Responsibility
- Violence
- Lack of support
- Loss of loved one
(Nogueria,De Jesus Mari & Razzouk, 2015)
Ataque de Nervios
References
Varying Views
- "Attack of nerves"
- Found among people of Latino Descent
- 16-17% of Puerto Ricans
- ~76% female (Guarnaccia et al, 1993)
- Response to stressful situations
- American Psychiatric Association, & American Psychiatric Association. Task Force on DSM-IV. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR (4th, text revision. ed.). Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Association.
- Gussow, Z. (1985). Pibloktoq (Hysteria) Among the Polar Eskimo. In The Culture-Bound Syndromes (pp. 271-287). Springer Netherlands.
- Landy, D. (1985). Pibloktoq (hysteria) and Inuit nutrition: possible implication of hypervitaminosis A. Social Science & Medicine, 21(2), 173-185.
- Nogueira, Bruno Lima, Mari, Jair de Jesus, & Razzouk, Denise. (2015). Culture-bound syndromes in Spanish speaking Latin America: the case of Nervios, Susto and Ataques de Nervios. Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo), 42(6), 171-178.
- Parker, S. (1962). Eskimo Psychopathology in the Context of Eskimo Personality and Culture. American Anthropologist. 64; 76-96.
- Peary, R. E., (1910). The North Pole. New York, Frederick A. Stokes Co.
- Stefansson, V. (1914). The Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition of the American Museum: Preliminary ethnological report. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. 14.
- Zeller, A. (1990). Arctic Hysteria in Salem? Anthropologica, 32(2), 239-264.
- Dick, L. (1995). Piblokto: A Construction of European-Inuit Relations. The University of Wisconsin Press, 32(2), 1-42. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- Higgs, R. (2011). Pibloktoq: A study of a culture-bound syndrome in the circumpolar region. The Macalester Review, 1(1), 1-9. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- Sensory Deprivation and Arctic Environmental Factors
- Dietary Needs
- Calcium deficiencies
- Hypervitaminosis A
- Extreme loneliness and the missing of loved ones
- Underdeveloped and primitive personalities
- (Dick, 1995)
"An abrupt dissociative episode accompanied by extreme excitement for up to 30 mins’ duration and frequently followed by convulsive seizures and coma lasting up to 12 hours" (DSM-IV,pg. 901)
Mainly affects the female Inuit population
The symptoms of piblokto can be split up into three sections:
1. Prodromal Symptoms
2. Attack symptoms
3. Aftermath symptoms
- Piblokto as a "catch all" phrase for Western researchers
- Manifestation of basic personality
- Non-existent term for Piblokto in language of the Eskimos
- (Higgs, 2011)