Dizziness and Panic in China: Associated Sensations of Zang Fu Organ Disequilibrium

Abstract

In China, distress is commonly experienced as dizziness that can develop into acute episodes resembling Western panic attacks. These distressing sensations occur in a unique cultural context with a distinctive set of associated symptoms, beliefs and purported etiologies. The experience of illness is informed by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), an indigenous theory that elaborates a system of organ functioning called zang fi. Depending on the implicated zang fi organ disequilibrium, dizziness and panic present with a specific constellation of associated physical and mental symptoms. This paper presents a clinical survey of psychiatric disorders that demonstrates dizziness to be characteristic of Chinese anxiety states, most particularly panic. Three specific cases of dizziness-focused panic ascribed to different states of zangfu disequilibrium are described. In a typical pattern, initial dizziness and associated symptoms intensify until they generalize into panic attacks. The degree of dizziness and panic corresponds to the state of disequilibrium of the zang fu organ system as well as instability of the social, interpersonal and environmental context of the patient. This paper elucidates the dynamic interpretants of dizziness in the Chinese context to contribute to a medical anthropology of this sensation.