Running Amok

Why do people suddenly attack individuals for no apparent reason? In societies around the world this happens on a regular basis and seems to be on the increase. This increase indicates societal pressures are a key influence to the occurrence of this behavior. Although, difficulty remains in the definition of abnormal behavior suddenly attacking non-related people is abnormal by any definition of the word. The study of cross-culture syndromes is showing that some syndromes previously thought to be culturally-bound are in truth universal across cultures. The syndrome known as Amok is increasingly being acknowledged by the scientific community as being prevalent throughout the world.

History of Amok

According to Saint Martin (1999) the origin of the syndrome known as Amok is Malaysia. This condition was first reported by Captain Cook in his observation of the Malay tribesman in 1770. Captain Cook wrote of frenzied attacks by individuals causing harm to multiple victims reported as an average of 10 people. The term Amok comes from a Malay word, mengamonk meaning "to make a furious and desperate charge." (¶ 4) The belief of the Malays was that a tiger spirit possessed the perpetrator causing the attack. In early case reports, the indication of these occurrences was not as a mental illness, but as a curiosity of the Malay people. However, in the first issue of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) description of the disorder suggests that Amok is a psychotic form of a depressive or dissociative disorder.

John Cooper (1934, as cited by Saint Martin, 1999) pointed to the relation of Amok with suicide which is common across cultures. Cooper felt that Amok was the same as suicide but by an indirect path and that the psychosocial pressures which caused suicide in western cultures was the same among Malay tribesmen.

The Symptoms

Knecht (1999) describes Amok as falling into two types. The full-blown type starts with brooding. The second stage is violence against others of random choice and the results may be fatalities. The last stage is terminal sleep and a claim of inability to remember the attacks. The second type of Amok Knecht refers to as quasi-amok or pseudo-amok. This is a weaker version of the full-blown type and is typified by a fake attack against people because the individual lacks the ability to actually kill.

Endemic or Epidemic

Westermeyer (1973) in a study done in Asia, especially Laos, eludes that although Amok may have traditionally been thought of as endemic to certain Asian countries, the facts point to characteristics of an epidemic nature. The data gathered uses three variables: incidence changes in time, the spreading of amok from one ethnic culture or country to another, and the cultural weapon of choice. The change of incidence in particular shows politicoecomomic in addition to cultural factors as influences in occurrences of Amok.

Adler, Marx, Apel, Wolfersdorf and Hajak (2006) did the first ever world epidemiological study of amok behavior to test the sociodemographic, criminological, and psychiatric variables and their stability. They performed a content analysis study of 104 subjects with common tendencies reported in Malayan studies over two separate decades (1980-1989, 1991-2000). The findings of the group showed the subject groups of the two decades were comparable with one difference being and increase in firearm use. The subjects were found to have similar personalities consisting of being paranoid, impulsive, aggressive and passive.

The conclusion of Alder at el. (2006) is summed in this quote, "Amok represents a temporarily stable syndrome of extreme violent behavior even in modern industrialized societies." (¶ 1) Social burden and a complicated combination of motivational causes including psychiatric diseases are behind the condition of Amok with Amok being another of the many homicidal-suicidal acts that are similar in many ways.

Conclusion

Amok may have been traditionally described as endemic to the Malaysian tribesmen but with the increase of incidence in western society this no longer holds truth. Each study within this essay is in agreement that Amok is common world-wide with the only true difference being the cultural choice of method and weapon. The conditions of the subjects are similar across all cultures as the study of Adler et al. (2006) clearly shows. The fact that suicide is not an option for many individuals may be a very significant fact influencing the lashing out to random others. The breaking point is reached but is thwarted by a still solid need to survive or a moralistic aversion to suicide. In either case the result is the same with the mental torment being released in violence. Destructive power has dramatically increased in western society making the condition of Amok a critical area of study. After all a Malayan tribesmen might only hurt a few but a westerner with an advanced weapon is capable of mass destruction.

References

Adler, L., Marx, D., Apel, H., Wolfersdorf, M., & Hajak, G. (2006, October). Zur stabilität des 'Amokläufer'-Syndroms: Kontentanalytische vergleichsuntersuchung von pressemitteilungen über deutsche Amokläufer der Dekaden 1980-1989 und 1991- 2000. Fortschritte der Neurologie, Psychiatrie, 74(10), 582-590. Retrieved March 9, 2009, doi:10.1055/s-2005-919092

Knecht, T. (1999). Amok und Pseudo-Amok. Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 150(3), 142- 148. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from PsycINFO database.

Saint Martin, M.L. (1999). Running amok: a modern perspective on a culture-bound syndrome, Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 1999 June; 1(3): 66-70. Retrieved March 8, 2009 from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=181064Westermeyer, J. (1973, June). On the epidemicity of amok violence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28(6), 873- 876. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from PsycINFO database.