Ukamairinek (Inuktitut pronunciation: [?], referred to by patients as soul loss, soul possession, or soul wandering) is a culture-specific disorder occurring among Inuit people in the Arctic Circle, characterised by sleep paralysis accompanied by restlessness, anxiety and hallucinations.[1][2][3] Prodromal indicators of the condition are transient hallucinatory odours or sounds. Research has described the syndrome as a dissociation reaction, or a possible narcolepsy-cataplexy syndrome. The syndrome concludes with complete remission, usually within a few minutes. It is coded under ICD-10 as F44.88 and G47.4.[4]
References
edit- ^ Parker S. Eskimo psychopathology in the context of Eskimo personality and culture. American anthropologist, 1962.
- ^ Hufford D. The terror that comes in the night. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1982. 64: 76—96.
- ^ Simons RC, Hughes CC, eds. The culture-bound syndromes. Dordrecht, Reidel, 1985: 115—148.
- ^ World Health Organisation. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Diagnostic criteria for research. Geneva. p. 263