Rodger G. Martin

Hikikomori, is it a culture-reactive or culture-bound syndrome? Nidotherapy and a clinical vignette from Oman.

Hikikomori, a form of acute social withdrawal, is becoming a silent epidemic in Japan. As it has not been reported from other parts of the world, hikikomori fulfills the criteria for “a culture-bound syndrome.” We report a case from Oman, in the southern part of Arabia, with all the essential features of hikikomori. We speculate that the social environment of Japanese and Omani society could reinforce behavior akin to hikikomori although this condition may also transcend geography and ethnicity.

Psychosocial Aspects of Epilepsy in Oman: Attitude of Health Personnel

Summary:  Purpose: To assess with a questionnaire the awareness and attitudes of the doctors in Oman toward epilepsy. Attitudes of society toward epilepsy have a wide‐ranging influence, affecting issues as diverse as compliance with treatment and doctor–patient communication. Recent studies in both developing and developed countries suggest that within the medical profession, there is a lack of knowledge and negative attitudes toward people with epilepsy (PWE). There are no equivalent studies for Oman or the Arab world.

Presence and Severity of Anorexia and Bulimia Among Male and Female Omani and Non-Omani Adolescents

OBJECTIVE The population of Oman is a heterogeneous mix of nationalities providing a natural setting for studying the cross-cultural differences in the presence and severity of eating disorders as well as an opportunity for evaluating the performance of measurement instruments for these disorders. METHOD Disordered eating screening instruments (the Eating Attitude Test and the Bulimic Investigatory Test) were administered to Omani teenagers, non-Omani teenagers, and Omani adults. RESULTS On the Eating Attitude Test, 33% of Omani teenagers (29.4% females and 36.4% males) and 9% of non-Omani teenagers (7.5% of males and 10.6% females) showed a propensity for anorexic-like behavior. On the Bulimic Investigatory Test, 12.3% of Omani teenagers showed a propensity for binge eating or bulimia (13.7% females and 10.9% males). Among the non-Omani teenagers, 18.4% showed a tendency toward bulimia, with females showing a slightly greater tendency than males. In contrast, barely 2% of Omani adults showed either a presence of or a severity of disorderly behavior with food. CONCLUSION Omani teenagers scored significantly higher than other ethnic groups and Omani adults. This finding is discussed in the light of emerging evidence from many parts of the world suggesting that cultural transition, compounded by demographic constraints, plays a significant role in abnormal eating attitudes.

Zar: Group distress and healing

This paper describes Zar, a spiritual cosmology and ritual performance whose meaning is associated with the experience of spirit possession. Commentators on spirit possession such as Zar have provided evidence that it may serve three interrelated functions. It is compatible with religious mythology and cosmology; it may represent a mechanism of psychological manipulation of oppressed individuals and it can be a form of culturally defined group therapy. In this paper, we report the phenomenon of Zar possession in Oman and attempt to relate it to these three interrelated functions.

ADHD IN OMANI SCHOOLGIRLS

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - Vol. 43 - N° 2 - p. 132-133

Dissociative disorders in the sultanate of Oman

Objective: To study the clinical manifestations and psychosocial aspects of dissociative (conversion) disorders (DD) in the Sultanate of Oman.