The Khmer 'Weak Heart' Syndrome

Fear of Death from Palpitations

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2394422
AutoresDevon E Hinton (Harvard University Press), Devon Hinton, Susan Hinton (Harvard University), Khin Um (Arbour Counseling Services), Audria Chea (North Suffolk Counseling Services), Sophia Sak (Boston University)
Ano2002
Volume39
Fascículo3
Páginas323-344
Data de publicação2002-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136346150203900303
PMID20814562
PMCIDPMC2931422
OpenAlexW1992998973
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas26
Referências citadas26

According to the Khmer conception, a person suffering 'weak heart' ( khsaoy beh daung) has episodes of palpitations on slight provocation (e.g. triggered by orthostasis, anger, a noise, worry, an odor or exercise) and runs the risk of dying of heart arrest during these periods of palpitations; too, the sufferer typically has other symptoms attributed to the purported cardiac dysfunction: fatigue, shortness of breath, and orthostatic dizziness. Many Khmer refugees suffer this cultural syndrome, an anxious-dysphoria ontology, most probably of French colonial provenance. The syndrome demonstrates considerable overlap with those Western illness categories that feature panic attacks, in particular post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic disorder. In a psychiatric clinic survey, 60 percent (60/100) of those assessed believed themselves to currently suffer 'weak heart'; 90 percent (54/60) of those considering themselves to suffer from 'weak heart' thought that palpitations (e.g., those resulting from a loud noise or orthostasis) might result in death. The article illustrates the profoundly culturally constructed nature of 'cardiac sensations,' located in a specific historical trajectory and episteme; too, the article suggests that trauma may result more in panic disorder than 'PTSD' when autonomic arousal symptoms (in the present case, palpitations) are considered potentially life-threatening

Anxiety · Palpitations · Panic · Panic disorder · Psychiatry · Infectious Encephalopathies and Encephalitis · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments