Piblokto facts for kids
Piblokto, also called pibloktoq or Arctic hysteria, is a special condition. It is most often seen in the Inughuit people. These are Inuit communities living in Northwest Greenland within the Arctic Circle. Piblokto is a sudden, unusual reaction. It mostly affects Inuit women. People experiencing it might do things that seem strange or even a bit risky. Afterward, they often don't remember what happened. Some think Piblokto might be linked to women feeling unable to express themselves. This condition appears most often in winter. It is seen as a type of culture-bound syndrome. This means it's a set of symptoms that are mostly found in one culture. However, some newer studies question if it truly exists as a separate condition. Piblokto is also listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). This is a guide used by doctors to understand mental health conditions.
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What Is Piblokto?
Piblokto is a sudden episode of unusual behavior. It happens most often in the Inughuit culture of northern Greenland. Similar actions have been reported in European sailors who were stuck in Arctic areas in the 1800s. Among the Inughuit, these episodes are not seen as very strange. There is no local explanation for the condition. Piblokto is most common during the long, dark Arctic nights.
History of Piblokto
Piblokto was first written about in 1892. European explorers described it as common in all Arctic regions. These explorers were the first to record Piblokto. One explorer, Admiral Robert Peary, wrote a lot about it during a trip to Greenland. Peary and his men found the actions of the Inuit women entertaining. Piblokto is not only found in native people. Reports from the 1800s show stranded sailors also had similar symptoms. People say this condition existed before Westerners arrived and still happens today. However, many experts now believe that these "culture-bound disorders" might sometimes be misunderstandings. They could be a result of different cultures meeting. Modern studies of Piblokto in medical anthropology question if these syndromes are truly unique.
Symptoms of Piblokto
Piblokto is a sudden episode with four main stages. First, there is social withdrawal. This means the person pulls away from others. Next comes excitement, where they might act very strangely. This can include running around, shouting, or taking off some of their clothes. Then, there are convulsions, like uncontrolled shaking, and a state of stupor, where they are unresponsive. Finally, the person recovers. In his book Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry, Wen-Shing Tseng shares an example:
A 30-year-old woman had "strange experiences" for three years. These started after her mother died. Three years ago, in winter, she became very aggressive. She tried to hurt herself. This attack lasted about 15 minutes. She remembered nothing afterward. Two years ago, she had another attack. It lasted about half an hour. During this time, she ran from her home into the snow. She also took off some of her clothing.
Possible Causes of Piblokto
There is no single known cause for Piblokto. Western scientists have suggested several reasons. These include the lack of sun, the extreme cold, and the isolated nature of most villages. The isolation of the cultural group might also be a cause.
This culture-bound syndrome might also be linked to too much vitamin A in the body. This is called hypervitaminosis A. The traditional Inughuit diet includes many foods rich in vitamin A. These are livers, kidneys, and fat from Arctic fish and mammals. Eating these might cause or contribute to the condition. Too much vitamin A has been reported to affect males, females, adults, children, and even dogs. Eating organ meats, especially the livers of animals like the polar bear and bearded seal, can be dangerous. These animals store vitamin A at levels that are toxic to humans.
Inughuit traditions say that Piblokto is caused by evil spirits. Shamanism and animism are important in Inughuit traditional beliefs. The angakkuq (healer) connects with supernatural forces. Angakkuit use trance states to talk to spirits and perform faith healing. The Inughuit believe that people in trance states should be treated with respect. This is because a new "revelation" might come from it. In Piblokto cases, treatment usually means letting the episode finish on its own. While Piblokto can sometimes look like other conditions, like epilepsy, most cases are not harmful.
Doubts About Piblokto
Even though Piblokto is in historical records and medical books, some Arctic researchers and residents doubt it truly exists. They suggest the phenomenon might be more about what early European explorers saw and did. It might not be about the Inuit themselves.
In 1988, Parks Canada historian Lyle Dick questioned if Piblokto exists at all. Dick looked at the original writings of European Arctic explorers. He also studied reports on Inughuit societies. He found that most ideas about Piblokto were based on only about eight cases. He also discovered that the word "piblokto" or "pibloktoq" does not exist in Inuktun, the Inughuit language. Dick thought this might be due to mistakes in how the explorers wrote down the sounds. In a 1995 paper and his 2001 book, Dick suggested that Piblokto is a "phantom phenomenon." He believed it came more from the Inughuit reaction to European explorers in their land.
Similarly, Hughes and Simons described Piblokto as a "catch-all term." They said explorers used it for various Inughuit reactions. These included anxiety, showing resistance to patriarchy (male dominance), and shamanistic practices. Simply put, some scholars now see Piblokto not as a strange cultural event. Instead, they see it as a way of expressing difficult experiences from when European explorers arrived. For example, scholar Laurence Kirmayer writes:
Most big psychiatric books mention pibloktoq as a culture-bound syndrome. It is described as sudden wild and erratic behavior. Recently, the historian Lyle Dick gathered all the published stories about pibloktoq. There are only about 25 of them. Looking back, we can see how not understanding the impact of exploration on other peoples twisted the picture. Important information about the social situation was not included. The effects of these colonial ways of thinking are still with us...
See also
In Spanish: Piblokto para niños
- Wendigo
- Cabin fever
- Kayak angst
- Prairie madness
- Menerik (ru) (sometimes meryachenie) – a condition similar to piblokto found in Siberia among Yakuts, Yukagirs, and Evenks. Sidorov and Davydov say menerik is like piblokto. They say meryachenie is like latah. Others use meryachenie as a general term for both.
- Culture-bound syndrome