Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Folk concepts of mental disorder among the Lao: Continuities with similar concepts in other cultures and in psychiatry

  • Published:
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Folk concepts for mental disorder were studied among rural Lao people. While predominantly inferring etiology (e.g. spirit-caused disorder), certain terms also emphasized particular descriptive psychopathology or behavioral abnormality. Preventive strategies were stressed for insanity due to “excessive worry” or “broken taboo”.

These broad folk categories of disorder bore considerable similarity to some psychiatric and neurologic categories within medicine. These includes psychosis, mania, neurosis, organic brain syndrome, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and childhood autism. Lao folk terms for mental disorder also closely resembled those of other southeast Asian cultures, although illiterate tribal peoples appeared to have fewer terms than literate peasant peoples. Folk terms from more distant regions had broad similarity to those of southeast Asia, but lacked the specificity found within the region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beiser, M., Burr, W. A., Ravel, J. L. and Collomb, H. 1973 Illness of the Spirit Among the Serer of Senegal. Am. J. Psychiatry 130: 881–886.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edgerton, R. B. 1966 Conceptions of Psychosis in Four East African Societies. Amer. Anthropologist 68: 408–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, L. 1977 Disease and Illness; Distinctions between Professional and Popular Ideas of Sickness. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 9–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erinosho, O. A. and Ayonrinde, A. 1978 A Comparative Study of Opinion and Knowledge about Mental Illness in Different Societies. Psychiatry 41: 403–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabrega, H. and Metzger, D. 1968 Psychiatric Illness in a Small Ladino Community. Psychiatry 31: 339–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaviria, M. and Wintrob, R. M. 1976 Supernatural Influence in Psychopathology: Puerto Rican Folks Beliefs About Mental Illness. Can. Psychiatr. Assoc. J. 21: 361–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Good, B. Y. 1977 The Heart of What's the Matter: The Semantics of Illness in Iran. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 25–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hahn, R. A. 1978 Aboriginal American Psychiatric Theories. Transcult. Psychiatric Research 15: 29–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, J. M. 1963 Traditional Medicine and the Role of Phi in Laos. Eastern Anthropologist 16: 191–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ionescu-Tongyonk, J. 1977 Transcultural Psychiatry in Thailand: A Review of the Last Two Decades. Transcult. Psychiatr. Research Rev. 14: 145–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemkau, P. V. and Crocetti, G. M. 1962 An Urban Population's Opinion and Knowledge about Mental Illness. Amer. J. Psychiatry 118: 692–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matarazzo, J. D. in press: The Interview: Its Reliability and Validity in Psychiatric Diagnosis, in B. B. Wolman (ed.) Clinical Diagnosis of Mental Disorders: A Handbook (New York: Plenum Publishing Co., in press).

  • Nissom, M. P. and Schmidt, K. E. 1967 Land-Dayak Concept of Mental Illness. Med. J. Malaya 21: 352–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obeyesekere, G. 1977 The Theory and Practice of Psychological Medicine in the Ayurvedic Tradition. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 155–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prince, R. H. 1964 Indigenous Yoruba Psychiatry, in A. Kiev (ed.) Magic, Faith and Healing (New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Resner, G. and Hartog, J. 1970 Concepts and Terminology of Mental Disorder among Malays. J. Cross Cultural Psychol. 1: 369–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, K. E. 1968 Some Concepts of Mental Illness of the Murut of Sarawak. Int. J. Soc. Psychiat. 14: 24–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tambiah, S. J. 1970 Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand (London: Cambridge Univ. Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tambiah, S. J. 1977 The Cosmological and Performative Significance of a Thai Cult of Healing Through Meditation. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1: 97–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, J. M. 1975a Cultural Conceptions, Mental Disorders and Social Roles: A Comparison of Germany and America. Amer. Sociol. Rev. 40: 739–752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, J. M. 1975b Cultural Conceptions and Mental Illness: A Controlled Comparison of Germany and America. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 160: 409–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, W. S. 1973 The Development of Psychiatric Concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 29: 569–575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, W. S. 1975 The Nature of Somatic Complaints Among Psychiatric Patients: The Chinese Case. Comprehensive Psychiatry 16: 237–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westermeyer, J. and Wintrob, R. 1978 “Folk” Criteria for Mental Illness in a Rural Asian Society. Amer. J. Psychiatry 136: 755–761.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    Joseph Westermeyer

Authors
  1. Joseph Westermeyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Westermeyer, J. Folk concepts of mental disorder among the Lao: Continuities with similar concepts in other cultures and in psychiatry. Cult Med Psych 3, 301–317 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114615

Download citation

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114615

Keywords

Search

Navigation