Amok

Abstract

Based on Gimlette's four cardinal symptoms of Amok, this syndrome has been reviewed both as it is known among the Malays, and in relation to broader socio-cultural issues in Western cultures. The authors presented one North American Amok case worked upon by him in his practice, and reviewed from the literature two others which, while not previously classified as Amok, presented the same characteristics as the author's case. The authors contends that Amok is not a culture-bound syndrome, but one that could be found in any culture, depending on the presence of three factors, a social one, a society in change, and two individual ones, a feeling of alienation and need for assertiveness. It is possible that, ultimately, the amoker acts as the unwitting aggregate of the collective frustrations, releasing pent-up cultural resentments in his scapegoating act.