Culture And Culture Bound Syndrome

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Have you ever given someone the evil eye, or run amok? Have you or someone you know ever fell out? Some of these phrases are common with children or people throughout the country, but to other cultures these are serious issues that require attention. Culture Bound Syndrome is an illness, or behavior within a particular culture. However, in research of CBS I found that it is possible for these illnesses to spread among other cultures. Why do medical anthropologist have an interest in CBS? More importantly, what are these illnesses that plague these cultures? Medical anthropologist uses the subfields biology, cultural, linguistics, and social with the focus of health. Culture bound syndrome has distinct cultural influences, and can be a cross …show more content…

Anorexia and Bulimia are indeed mental disorders, but does not seem to be a medical problem in all cultures. Some cultures welcome weight and can be a sign of a healthy person, or someone who is wealthy. According to cross cultural studies, published in the journal Current Anthropology have revealed that “cultures share the idea that fat or obesity is a basis for judging the social and personal qualities of an individual” (pp. …show more content…

In Spain and Latin America the evil eye is a culture bound syndrome that a certain look can bring about a supernatural curse, or bad luck, possibly even illness and death. Commonly something that affects children. As a child, my siblings and I would get in trouble for giving each other the evil eye. I do not remember where we learned it from, and had no clue that the evil eye was considered dangerous to other cultures. The Navajo indigenous people of America have a disease within their culture called ghost sickness. This disease is defined as a person who is possessed by the deceased. The symptoms include loss of appetite, weakness, nightmares, and feelings of terror. However, in other cultures ghost sickness could be looked at as PTSD or anxiety symptoms. There is only one way to treat this disease, through performing a ritual with the other tribe

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