What is Koro culture-bound syndrome?

Koro syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterised, in its typical form, by acute and intense anxiety, with complaints in men of a shrinking penis or fear of its retraction into the abdomen and resultant death. Initially the syndrome was described as a culture specific disorder in Southeast Asia and China.

What type of disorder is Koro?

The koro syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterized by acute anxiety and a deep-seated fear of shrinkage of the penis and its ultimate retraction into the abdomen, which will cause death.

What is Koro an example of?

For the theorists of psychoanalysis, koro served as the concrete example of Oedipal castration anxiety, while some Chinese authors like Yap saw in suo-yang the paradigm of a true culture-bound syndrome, assuming that the disorder itself was generated by the suggestive effect of traditional Chinese concepts.

What does longstanding mean in terms of Koro?

“Longstanding” refers to changes that are sustained over a significant period and do not appear reversible, unlike the effect of cold temperatures on some genital regions that cause retraction. These changes may trigger a koro attack when observed, although the effects of cold temperatures are objectively reversible.

Where does the word Koro come from in Indonesia?

The earliest Western reference to the term koro is found in B.F. Matthes’ Dictionary of Buginese Language (1874) of South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

What are the cultural and non cultural forms of Koro?

Various authors have attempted to distinguish between complete and incomplete forms of koro, along with cultural and non-cultural forms. Cultural forms are said to involve a cultural belief or myth which plays a role in the genesis and spread of the disease in the community.

What is the difference between koro and BDD?

BDD is different from koro. In koro, a patient is overcome with the belief that his penis is actively shrinking, and it may be in imminent danger of disappearing. Clinical literature indicates that these two psychological conditions should be separated during differential diagnosis.