Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:51:07.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Amok

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Yan Kon
Yan Kon*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, United Medical and Dental Schools, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Amok is reviewed from a historical standpoint, tracing how it has changed from the Hindu states of India where it was a war tactic to the sudden incomprehensible violence and mass murder by a single individual associated with the syndrome today.

Method

A typical amok attack is described and the criteria for amok discussed. Amok in Malaysia, New Guinea, Laos, North America and other countries are presented. The possible motives for such violent killings and a possible psychiatric diagnosis in relation to contemporary diagnostic criteria is discussed.

Conclusion

Classification of amok remains unresolved. The reason for its frequency in and around Malaysia remains unknown.

British Journal of Psychiatry (1994), 165, 685–689

Type
Short papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 165 , Issue 5 , November 1994 , pp. 685 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1994 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, A. R. D. (1950–1952) Amok. In British Encyclopedia of Medical Practice, 1950–1952, vol. 8, 6–10. London: Butterworth.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Arboleda-Florez, J. (1979) Amok. In The Culture-Bound Syndromes: Folk Illness of Psychiatric and Anthropological Interest (eds Simons, R. C. & Hughes, C.), pp. 251–262. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Burton-Bradley, B. G. (1968) The amok syndrome in Papua and New Guinea. Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 252–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burton-Bradley, B. G. (1987) The Hungerford Massacre and its aftermath. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 866.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carothers, J. C. (1948) A study of mental derangement in Africans, and an attempt to explain its peculiarities, more especially in relation to African attitudes and life. Psychiatry, 11, 47–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, J. E. (1978) Ethnobehaviorism and the culture-bound syndromes: the case of amok. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 2, 269–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, J. E. & Tan, E. K. (1976) In search of true amok: amok as viewed within the Malay culture. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 1295–1299.Google ScholarPubMed
Ellis, W. G. (1893) The amoks of the Malays. Journal of Mental Science, 39, 325–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallemore, J. L. & Panton, J. A. (1976) “Motiveless” public assassins. The Bulletin of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law IV, 1, 51–57.Google Scholar
Gaw, A. C. & Bernstein, R. L. (1992) Classification of amok in DSM-IV. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 43, 789–793.Google ScholarPubMed
Gimlette, J. D. (1901) Notes on a case of amok. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 4, 195–199.Google Scholar
Gullick, J. M. (1958) Indigenous political systems of western Malaya. In London School of Economics, Monographs on Social Anthropology, No. 17. London: Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Kline, N. S. (1963) Psychiatry in Indonesia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 809–815.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masters, W. E. (1920) Essentials of Tropical Medicine. London: John Bale & Danielson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, H. B. M. (1972) History and the evolution of syndromes: the striking case of latah and amok. In Psychopathology: Contributions from the Social, Behavioral & Biological Sciences (eds Hammer, M., Salzinger, K. & Sutton, S.), pp. 33–55. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Schmidt, K., Hill, L. & Guthrie, G. (1977) Running amok. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 23, 264–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, W. (1972) Amuk. Federation Museums Journal (Malaysia), 17, 1–30.Google Scholar
Tan, E. K. & Carr, J. E. (1977) Psychiatric sequelae of amok. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 1, 59–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Time (1966) The Madman in the Tower. August 12.Google Scholar
Westermeyer, J. (1972) A comparison of amok and other homicides in Laos. American Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 703–709.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westermeyer, J. (1973a) Grenade amok in Laos: a psychosocial perspective. International Journal of Psychosocial Psychiatry, 19, 1–5.Google Scholar
Westermeyer, J. (1973b) On the epidemicity of amok violence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 873–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westermeyer, J. (1985) Sudden mass assault with grenade: an epidemic amok from Laos. In Culture-Bound Syndromes: Folk Illness of Psychiatric and Anthropological Interest (eds Simons, R. C. & Hughes, C.), pp. 225–235. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witthower, E. D. (1969) Perspectives of transcultural psychiatry. International Journal of Psychiatry, 8, 811–824.Google Scholar
Yap, P. M. (1951) Mental disease peculiar to certain cultures: a survey of comparative psychiatry. Journal of Mental Science, 97, 313–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yap, P. M. (1969) The culture-bound reactive syndromes. In Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific (eds Caudill, W. & Lin, T-Y), pp. 35–55. Honolulu: East-West Centre.Google Scholar
Zaguirre, J. C. (1957) Amuck. Journal of Philippine Federation of Private Medical Practitioners, 6, 1138–1149.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.