Koro Syndrome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Koro Syndrome - Essay ExampleFor example, there has been the existence of varied anxiety syndromes that involve fright of death, fear of getting castrated and concerns regarding sexual potency. The Nigerian Yoruba believed that the principal(prenominal) cause of male impotence was bewitchment, in such cases a male witch would steal a mortal mans extremity to use it for having intercourse with the wife of the victim or any other woman and then return it back in an altered and manipulated form consequently making him impotent for life (Koro-A culture-bound depersonalization syndrome, n.d.) What is Koro Syndrome? Koro is primarily an anxiety disorder characterized with sexual dysfunction hysteria and death. In psychological terminology, koro is basically genital retraction syndrome (GRS). In layman terms, it is the delusion that the genitals will be completely shrinked into the body. The male victims of Koro mainly suffer from the fear of the fact that their penises are retracting to their abdomen and as a result they will die when the process gets completed. In females, it is characterized by shrinking of nipples inside the breast mass. Koro mainly occurs to men and is occasionally seen in women. ( Koro- the venereal Retraction Syndrome, 2001) However, Koro is often considered a culture-specific disorder, which means only people of certain specific cultures and territories get affected by this disease, and it is not really one of those diseases loosely recognized by Western medicines. It is seen mostly in Southern China, Malaysia, Singapore as well as certain parts of Africa, Afghanistan, India and even in both(prenominal) parts of the West. Every region has different names for the disease, like in China it is known as suo-yang (suo=shrinkage yang=penis), in Cantonese it is known as suk-yeong, in India jhinjhini bimari (=tangling disease) etc. (Garlipp, 2008). Koro, primarily seen in the South China region, mainly affects young normal Chinese males in the age range of 21-40 years who have anterior experiences of premorbid sexual inadequacies and maladjustments. Most commonly cited reasons of Koro Syndrome mainly include masturbation, illicit sexual encounters with prostitutes, witchcraft etc. Psychologists who laterally analyze different cultures are of the view that koro is tight integrated to panic attacks due to sexual apprehensions. Attacks are often experienced by men in situations which generally cause genitals to retract slightly, such as cold weather or emotional anguish (Koro-the Genital Retraction Syndrome, 2001). Most koro attacks occur usually at nights with common symptoms like senselessness, palpitation, pounding heart rate, fear of death, loss of penile shape and muscular tone, loss of sexual desire and power and genital tingling. It has been argued that these can be sufficient criteria for diagnosis of koro but not really necessary in any ways. The fear of depersonalization is so acute in certain cases that people often secure on to their penis all along during the course of the attack in fear that it might disappear inside their abdomen forever. They prefer to visually scan their penis and touch them often to be sure of its existence and size (Koro-A culture-bound depersonalization syndrome, n.d.) Cultural Stigma One can get some insights into the causes of Koro from the canonic Chinese Culture. Koro means head of a turtle in Chinese. The Chinese, for long have been using the turtle symbol for long lasting lives and for