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The Role Of Culture In Making Psychiatric Diagnosis: Hwabyung (火病) And Neurasthenia (神經衰弱), Jonghyun Lee

2013 New England Association for Asian Studies Conference

The Role of Culture in Making Psychiatric Diagnosis: Hwabyung (火病) and Neurasthenia (神經衰弱)

My paper looks at two psychiatric illnesses and discusses their social and cultural dimensions. The two illnesses to be compared are the Korean affliction called hwabyung, and the once-popular Western malady labeled neurasthenia, a common ailment in 19th century America.

Neurasthenia was defined as “a disorder characterized by feelings of fatigue and lassitude,” which is caused by the nervous system. That definition could fit most people at some time or another. Hwabyung, on the other hand, means “fire illness.” Koreans believe that chronic distress can …

Session 4-1-D: The Experience Of Lotto 6/49 And The Capacity To Trust: Elements For An Anthropology Of Gambling, Jocelyn Gadbois

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Anthropologists study Lotto 6/49 as an experience.

Lévy-Bruhl tries to compare the magical beliefs of serious gamblers with the magical beliefs of individuals he refers to as the ‘‘primitives’’ (1924).

After that, Henslin studied the superstitions of St.Louis taxi drivers who play craps during their work breaks and compared them to Skinner’s pigeon (1967).

I wanted in my thesis to help anthropology to reconstruct lost knowledge regarding gambling and beliefs about magic in capitalist society.