Locura

Locura, Spanish for insanity, is a culture-bound syndrome found mostly in Latin America and among Latin Americans in the United States, categorized as a more severe form of nervios and ataque de nervios, with symptoms resembling schizophrenia and severe chronic psychosis, also called ataques de locura or madness attacks. Hispanic families describing a loved one's locura often focus on agitated behavior that they believe progresses toward greater vulnerability to other health problems, with children considered especially susceptible because their nerves are believed more easily damaged. Because the term carries multiple meanings across different communities, research on locura remains limited and conflicting, and outside the DSM-IV's own discussion the word is not used in English, where it can also be used loosely in Spanish for any deviation from the norm attributed to mental illness.