An alarm about suspected toxic gas leakage was raised in a primary school. All the students were evacuated by the staff and the community to a district hospital in Teluk Intan, Perak, about 8 km from the school. Sixty-four primary students from the school, four secondary school students and a student’s mother, who was near the school were all examined by a team of medical officers: Perceptions and records of the incidence from the students, staff and medical officers were recorded and examined by the author who visited the school and the hospital after the incidence. Psychosomatic symptoms related to anxiety attack were predominant There was no evidence of any gas leak. Symptomatic management was given by the medical officers. The psychogenic aetiology of the subsequent physical symptoms and behaviour, and the difference from epidemic hysteria are discussed.
A case of Koro is described in a Malaysian Chinese man in the setting of martial dysharmony and sexual rejection. A distinction is suggested between the epidemic form of Koro and the Koro symptom occurring sporadically. Existence of the sporadic Koro syndrome is discussed and a unified classificatory system is proposed.
This study aimed to look at the link between childhood recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) and the presence of recent life-events in an urban community in Malaysia. School children aged from 9 to 15 years in the city of Petaling Jaya were randomly selected to fill in a questionnaire and to be interviewed. The prevalence of RAP among 1488 school children studied was 9.6% (95% confidence interval (CI), 8.18-11.25). Higher prevalences of RAP were found in children who had experienced the following life-events in the previous year: loss of a family member through death (P
The severity of anxiety and depression in 72 patients presenting with somatic complaints to the psychiatric clinic were assessed after excluding organic illnesses. Majority of the patients were females, between 15 to 34 years of age and came from lower socio-economic background. A high percentage of patients were brought up by dominant mothers and the married patients had passive husbands or active wives controlling the family. Generally the severity of depression was correlated with the severity of anxiety (C.C = 0.704, P less than 0.01). Majority of the patients were found to have both mixed anxiety depressive symptoms and the anxiety symptoms masking the underlying depressive symptomatology.
Study site: Psychiatric Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
Standard psychiatric criteria for depression developed in the United States and United Kingdom are increasingly used worldwide to establish the prevalence of clinical disorders and to help develop services. However, these approaches are rarely sensitive to local and cultural expressions of symptoms or beliefs about treatment. Mismatch between diagnostic criteria and local understanding may result in underreporting of depression and underutilization of services. Little such research has been conducted in Malaysia, despite the acknowledged high rate of depression and low access to services. This study examines depression in Moslem Malay women living in Johor Bahru, Southern Peninsular Malaysia, to explore depression symptoms using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. The 61 women interviewed were selected on the basis of high General Health Questionnaire scores from a large questionnaire survey of 1,002 mothers. The illustrative analysis looks at descriptions of depressed mood, self-depreciation and suicidal ideation, as well as attitudes toward service use. The women gave full and open descriptions of their emotional symptoms, easily recognizable by standard symptom categories, although somatic symptoms were commonly included, and the spiritual context to understanding depression was also prevalent. However, few women had knowledge about treatment or sought medical services, although some sought help from local spiritual healers. Attending to such views of depression can help develop services in Malaysia.