Culture-bound syndromes, idioms of distress, and cultural concepts of distress: New directions for an old concept in psychological anthropology

Abstract

This issue of Transcultural Psychiatry showcases some recent work on idioms of distress – the latest in a long line of anthropological research concerned with cross-cultural concepts and experiences of distress. Mark Nichter’s (1981) seminal paper introducing idioms of distress has become a cynosure for psychological anthropology and transcultural psychiatry. A growing body of work has since accumulated; however, the last time a collection of such research was brought together was the 2010 publication of a special issue in the journal Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry organized by Devon Hinton and Roberto Lewis-Fernández. In the decade since, new questions have arisen about the boundaries and applications of idioms of distress research. In this introduction, we provide a brief history of work on idioms of distress and related concepts. Then, we introduce several major themes explored by the papers in this special issue.