Causes
Although there is no known cause for piblokto, Western scientists have attributed the disorder to the lack of sun, the extreme cold, and the desolate state of most villages in the region. A cause for this disorder present in this culture may be the isolation of their cultural group.This culture-bound syndrome is possibly linked to vitamin A toxicity (hypervitaminosis A). The native Inughuit diet or Eskimo nutrition provides rich sources of vitamin A through the ingestion of livers, kidneys, and fat of arctic fish and mammals and is possibly the cause or a causative factor. This causative factor is through the toxicity that has been reported for males, females, adults, children, and dogs. The ingestion of organ meats, particularly the livers of some Arctic mammals, such as the polar bear and bearded seal, in whom the vitamin is stored at levels toxic to humans, can be fatal to most people. Inughuit tradition states that it is caused by evil spirits possessing the living. Shamanism and animism are dominant themes in Inughuit traditional beliefs with the angakkuq (healer) acting as a mediator with the supernatural forces. Angakkuit use trance states to communicate with spirits and carry out faith healing. There is a view among the Inughuit that individuals entering trance states should be treated with respect, given the possibility of a new "revelation" emerging as a result. Treatment in piblokto cases usually involves allowing the episode to run its course without interference.
Simply put, rather than understanding piblokto as a strange cultural phenomenon, some critical scholars now understand it to be an expression of trauma of colonial violence, including rape. For example, transcultural psychiatry scholar Laurence Kirmayer writes:

Most comprehensive psychiatric texts mention pibloktoq as a culture-bound syndrome characterized by sudden wild and erratic behaviour. Recently, the historian Lyle Dick collected all the published accounts of pibloktoq, of which there are only about 25. It seems that psychiatric case description transformed a situation of sexual exploitation of Inuit women by explorers into a discrete disorder worthy of a new diagnostic label. With hindsight, we can see how insensitivity to the impact of exploration on other peoples distorted the picture when vital information on social context was not included. The legacy of these colonialist blinkers is still with us ...

See also
Wendigo
Cabin fever
Kayak angst
Prairie madness
Menerik (ru) (sometimes meryachenie) – a condition similar to piblokto found in Siberia among Yakuts, Yukagirs, and Evenks. Sidorov and Davydov draw a distinction between piblokto-like menerik and latah-like meryachenie. Others use meryachenie as an umbrella term for both piblokto-like and latah-like states. Culture-bound syndrome

Notes
References
Further reading
Landy D (1985). "Pibloktoq (hysteria) and Inuit nutrition: possible implication of hypervitaminosis A". Soc Sci Med. 21 (2): 173–85. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(85)90087-5. PMID 4049004. Parker, S (1962). "Eskimo psychopathology in the context of Eskimo personality and culture". American Anthropologist. 64: 76–96. doi:10.1525/aa.1962.64.1.02a00080. Higgs, Rachel D. (2011) "Pibloktoq - A study of a culture-bound syndrome in the circumpolar region," The Macalester Review: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 3.