Felipe P. Jocano Jr.

Department of Anthropology

CSSP, UP Diliman

Many kinds of illnesses tend to be dismissed

as folk illnesses or superstitions when no

explanation can be given by clinical

medicine. Such is the case with local

illnesses like bangungut, pasma and other

forms of bodily distress, including possession

or sapi.

Only recently have medical researchers

begun to delve into the nature of the so-

called culture-bound syndromes, illnesses

that dont seem to fit into the positivistic biomedical model of modern medicine.

These syndromes are often bizarre, at least

to the point of view of someone coming from

outside the cultural setting in which they are

found.

Culture-bound syndromes are illnesses or

syndromes that are specific to particular

cultures or to a range of cultural groups

within a geographic location

They include both behavioral and biological

changes; they are treated as being spiritual

in nature and therefore as beyond scientific

inquiry.

Examples of culture-bound illnesses:

Latah (aka mali-mali)

Pasma

Bangungut

Road rage

Chocoholism

Internet addiction

The first three in the list are also known by different names in the SEA. The last three are widely described in both the popular and the scientific/medical literature published in the west, especially in the USA. These last three have also been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness or DSM (currently in its 5th edition, or DSM-5). All of them are products of a cultures circumstances, including especially the historical situation.

WHAT IS BANGUNGUT?

Bangungut is a condition whereby the

person is asleep and is suddenly gripped

with a sensation of heavy weight on top

and is unable to move.

Bangungut can be fatal if the person is

not woken in time

Survivors of bangungut have reported

another presence in the room, usually a

humanoid form sitting on top of their

chest.

Bangungut is also known as lai tai in

Thailand, pokkuri in Japan, and is widely

reported elsewhere in SEA.

Bangungut is potentially fatal in males,

though women have reported bangungut-like

episodes while sleeping

Because of their similarities, is

bangungut the same as the

Euro-American nightmare?

The nightmare has been depicted as a horse,

simply because the mare is a female horse

.

However, Hufford (2005) points out that the

mare may be derived from the older Anglo-

Saxon term merran, meaning to crush, which

describes the sensation felt by people

experiencing nightmares

A phenomenon similar to bangungut, called old

hag, is reported in both Europe and America.

In the Euro-American version, the old hag is

reported as sitting on the chest of the sleeper, or

else choking him.

This phenomenon is believed to be connected to

a folk story or legend common in Europe that of the witch who transforms her victim into an

animal and rides him hard i.e., a slave from which the word haggard originates someone who has been ridden by a hag

From the medical point of view, these and

similar ailments are now classified as sleep

paralysis.

Various hypotheses have been advanced to

account for sleep paralysis:

Cardiac arrythmia, brought about by Brugadas disease

Sleep disorder

What is known is that if left unchecked or

uninterrupted, bangungut leads to sudden

nocturnal death (SND), a serious condition

for males.

In this presentation, I will touch one of the

current models to account for bangungut,

that of Brugadas disease.

Is bangungut accounted for

by Brugadas disease?

Causes of bangungut: going to sleep

immediately after a full meal; stress

Brugadas disease is a genetically inherited cardiac condition limited to males, in which

arrhythmia can be induced by sleeping

immediately after a full meal; sleeping

immediately causes a shift in blood

chemistry by affecting the sodium level,

which in turn immediately affects the

heartbeat.

Other features:

Widely reported among migrant Filipino males,

both locally and abroad

Possible contributing elements

Stress due to life situations, including

adjustments to changes in the same

Cultural differences that can intensify the stress

level especially for migrants

Family conditions the material conditions of the families that prompt young males to leave home

and work in other countries

In spite of the cultural differences, why are

there similar stories around sleep paralysis,

assuming that this accounts for bangungut?

What does this say about recognizing the

same phenomenon in different guises?

Nightmares are seen as normative; but

bangungut and related syndromes are

exoticized; the manner by which a syndrome

or an illness is defined and who does the

definition matters as much as the actual

manifestation

Not all folk ailments are necessarily

relegated to the realm of folk knowledge and

therefore beyond the scope of scientific

research; many of these ailments may have a

physiological basis that is recognized in a

particular way in a different culture.