Culture Bound Syndrome Essay

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For centuries, society has sought to categorize people in order to make sense of symptoms that one can experience. Whether or not categorization is necessary and specifically accurate, it provides an explanation as to why someone qmight behave out of a society-constructed social norm. This categorization has taken place and maybe even helped people, with many severe and real disorders over the course of the years, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, society has taken it too far. Pharmaceutical companies are selling women on the fact that their hormonal times of the month need to be mitigated by taking brain altering, and expensive pharmaceutical drugs. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), furthermore premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), is a recent socially constructed …show more content…

PMS is not well known outside of the Western countries, which gives evidence to it being a culture bound syndrome. A culture-bound syndrome is a, “constellation of sign, symptoms, and/or experiences that have been categorized as a dysfunction or disease in some societies but not others. When it is said that an illness is culture-bound, it doesn’t mean that the symptoms are illegitimate. Women all around the world may experience irritability, water tension, and constipation before menstruation. However, it is only in Western societies do women think that their premenstrual emotional state is abnormal and may signify professional care. It has been suggested that PMS is a metaphor for the common inability of women to control their life situations. Control is such an important aspect to some American women that the thought of being out of control is so terrifying. This craving for control leads to so many self-diagnosis of PMS. Furthermore, because of the preference of control, people that seem to feel out of control (e.g. emotional) it is seen to

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