Folk illness

Folk illness

A Folk Illness is a disorder brought on by cultural conventions, not by pathogens or other physiological factors. Folk Illnesses tend to carry psychological and/or religious overtones. [ [http://www.rice.edu/projects/HispanicHealth/Courses/mod7/mod7.html Folk Medicine in Hispanics in the Southwestern United States, Nancy Neff, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine] ]

Changing Viewpoints

In 1980, social anthropologist Dan Blumhagen put forward the theory that folk illnesses and formal medical illnesses are not mutually exclusive. Based upon his research with hypertension sufferers he concluded that the condition can be misdiagnosed by the layment by associating the plain English name of illness with its literal meaning; in this case all pressure or "tension" in the extremities could be self-diagnosed as hyper-tension. [ Blumhagen D. Hyper-Tension: a folk illness with a medical name. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1980; 4:197–227]

Known Folk Illnesses

*Bilis
*Caída de Mollera
*Cólico
*Embrujamiento [ [http://itdc.lbcc.edu/chispa/DYKT/chispa_folkill.htm Common Latino/Hispanic Folk Illnesses] ]
*Empacho
*Mal de Ojo
*Mal Puesto
*Mal de Latido
*Mal Aire
*Pasma
*Susto [ [http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/96/11/875 Culture, Disease, and Healing: Studies in Medical Anthropology,Editor David Landy] ]
*Tristeza

References


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