'The Geography of Madness': On culturally-specific mental illnesses

Years ago, Frank Bures came across a striking article from the BBC: There was an alert in the West African nation of Benin about "penis theft." Some men in the country were suffering from the delusion that their genitals had been stolen — even when doctors assured them that nothing was wrong.

The delusion did not end with the patients: Members of the public believed it too. The accused thieves were being killed in violent mob attacks.

But that wasn't the only thing that caught Bures' eye: It was also the dismissive language of the article, which said that this delusion was commonplace in a country "where superstition and illiteracy are rife."

"This felt empty to me," Bures writes. "It had the ring of history, of superiority. The article seemed to suggest — or to claim — that civilized people were free from superstition, that education was the cure for penis theft, and that literacy could make us less crazy."

That began Bures's exploration of culture-bound syndromes — mental illnesses that only arise in certain cultures. Though the article dismissed penis thieves as a reflection of Benin's lack of literacy, Bures uncovered other syndromes that plague people in more developed countries too.

He traveled to Hong Kong to research latah — a condition that causes cursing and spontaneous dancing movements. In India, he learned about lizard syndrome, in which people believe they have a lizard under their skin that will kill them if it reaches their neck. These are documented in his book, "The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes."

The question that comes up most often is: Are these conditions real?

"'Real' is a tricky term here," Bures told MPR News host Tom Weber. "When you believe in something, it can be real for you, even if you can't prove it."

In the U.S., he said, consider carpal tunnel syndrome.

"It seems like a purely bio-mechanical thing," Bures said. "These things come and go through time. In the past, there have been similar things like scrivener's palsy in the 1800s, and telegraphists' cramp. Then, in the 1980s, in the meatpacking industry, carpal tunnel started — and pretty soon, everybody had it in the 80s and the 90s. And now it's on the decline, and it's almost gone, basically."

"It's not to say it's not real and that people weren't suffering, and that they need some sort of treatment, but the cause of it may not be exactly what you think it is."

For the full discussion with Frank Bures on "The Geography of Madness" and culture-bound syndromes, use the audio player above.