However, as discussed below, many scholars now hold that culture bound disorders may often be an artifact of colonial encounters, and contemporary discussions of piblokto in medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry consider it to be an example of the suspect nature of culture bound syndromes. Origin
Piblokto is most often found in but not confined to the Inughuit culture in the polar regions of northern Greenland. Similar symptoms have been reported in European sailors stranded in Arctic regions in the 1800s. Among the Inughuit, the attacks are not considered out of the ordinary. No native theory of the disorder is currently reported. This condition is most often seen in Inughuit women. Piblokto is most common during long Arctic nights. Symptoms
Piblokto is an abrupt dissociative episode with four phases: social withdrawal, excitement, convulsions and stupor, and recovery. In his book Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry, Wen-Shing Tseng provides the following example adapted from Foulks:
Mrs. A is a 30-year-old woman who has had periodic episodes of "strange experiences" in the past 3 years (since her mothers death). Three years ago, in the winter, during her first episode, she was acutely assaultive and tried to harm herself. The attack lasted about 15 min and she remembered nothing about it afterward. Two years ago, she had her second attack, which lasted about half an hour, during which time she ran from her home into the snow, tearing off her clothing.
Orthostatic purpura is a skin condition that results from prolonged standing or even sitting with the legs lowered (as in a bus, airplane, or train), which produced edema and a purpuric eruption on the lower extremities. : 827

See also
Skin lesion


== References ==