Amok syndrome

"Amok" redirects here. For other uses, see Amok (disambiguation).

"Run amuck" redirects here. For the Transformers character, see Runamuck.

Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok (also spelled amuck or amuk), is derived from the Malay/Indonesian/Tagalog word amuk, meaning "mad with uncontrollable rage". The verb form is mengamuk, or in Tagalog past tense nag-amok, with nag-aamok as present tense.

The term came from when the British and Portuguese were trying to take over Malaysia. Assuming the Malay people were extremely passive and easily pushed aside, they invaded the territories, somewhat successfully, but the natives rebelled, shocking the British and the Portuguese, leaving them astounded, hence the allegations of "crazy" and "wild" "jungle people"

The word was used by the British to describe to run-a-muck, or murder indiscriminately., It was later used in India during the British Empire, to describe an elephant gone mad, separated from its herd, running wild and causing devastation. The word was made popular by the colonial tales of Rudyard Kipling.

Although commonly used in a colloquial and less-violent sense, the phrase is particularly associated with a specific sociopathic culture-bound syndrome in Malaysian culture. In a typical case of running amok, a male who has shown no previous sign of anger or any inclination to violence will acquire a weapon and, in a sudden frenzy, will attempt to kill or seriously injure anyone he encounters. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the attacker being killed by bystanders, or committing suicide.

The syndrome of "Amok" is found in the DSM-IV TR.

Causes

Many explanations for amok have been offered by observers, including suggestions that it is a physical consequence of alcoholism, drug addiction, heat or internal parasites. Nineteenth and early twentieth century investigators were unable, however, to find any real evidence to support these speculations. Psychological explanations include the suggestion that amok is a sudden explosion of internal tension created by life in a highly hierarchical society; Malay, Mindanaoan and Javanese traditional societies are said to have been extremely hierarchical, with an emphasis on deference to rulers. It is doubtful, however, whether these societies are unusually hierarchical in a global context.

The explanation which is now most widely accepted is that amok is closely related to male honor (amok by women is virtually unknown). In many cases where the background of the amok-runner is known, there seems to have been some element of deep shame which prevented the man from living honorably, as he saw it, in his own society. Running amok was both a way of escaping the world (since perpetrators were normally killed) and re-establishing one's reputation as a man to be feared and respected. Some observers have related this explanation to Islam's ban on suicide, which, it is suggested, drove Malay men to create circumstances in which others would kill them. Evidence for this explanation is that the incidence of amok seems to be less where amok runners are captured and tried, rather than being beaten to death on the spot.

During the American occupation of the Philippines, many noted incidences of individuals running amok in Mindanao, Palawan and Sulu were documented in photographs. During the Spanish colonial period, the amuk's were called juramentador, meaning "those who have taken a vow", as the amok was confused with the tradition of shahid, who ceremoniously took a vow to God, detailing that he would die whilst attacking the enemy in the hopes of attaining Jannah. This vow was usually taken in front of a Rajah and an Imam before attacking. The same typical Malay method of spontaneous suicide attack with the kalis was used by syahid, yet a syahid would only attack enemy combatants, while an amok would strike out indiscriminately at civilians.

Cultural equivalents

Early travellers in Asia sometimes describe a kind of military amok, in which soldiers facing apparently inevitable defeat suddenly burst into a frenzy of violence which so startles their enemies that it either delivers victory or at least ensures what the soldier in that culture considers an honourable death. This form of amok appears to resemble the berserker of the Norse, the cafard or cathard (Polynesia), mal de pelea (Puerto Rico), and iich'aa (Navaho).

Amok is often described as a culture-bound (or culture-specific) syndrome, which is a psychological condition whose manifestation is strongly shaped by cultural factors. Other reported culture-bound syndromes are latah and koro. Amok is also sometimes considered one of the subcategories of dissociative disorders (cross-cultural variant).

Behaviour strongly reminiscent of amok is also found in Western societies, and indeed the term is often used to refer to the behaviour of someone who, in the grip of strong emotion, obtains a weapon and begins attacking people indiscriminately, often with multiple fatalities. The slang term going postal is similar in intent and more common today, particularly in North America. Police describe such an event as a killing spree. If the individual is seeking death an alternate method is often suicide by cop.

In contemporary Indonesia, the term amok (amuk) generally refers not to individual violence, but to apparently frenzied violence by mobs. Indonesians now commonly use the term 'gelap mata' (literally 'darkened eyes') to refer to individual amok.

Norse berserkers and the Zulu battle trance are two other examples of the tendency of certain groups to work themselves up into a killing frenzy. The 1911 Webster Encyclopedia comments:

Though so intimately associated with the Malay there is some ground for believing the word to have an Indian origin, and the act is certainly far from unknown in Indian history. Some notable cases have occurred among the Rajputs. Thus, in 1634, the eldest son of the raja of Jodhpur ran amok at the court of Shah Jahan, failing in his attack on the emperor, but killing five of his officials. During the 18th century, again, at Hyderabad (Sind), two envoys, sent by the Jodhpur chief in regard to a quarrel between the two states, stabbed the prince and twenty-six of his suite before they themselves fell.

See also

• Berserker
• Grisi siknis
• Going postal

Notes

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Amuck, Running". [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]] (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

Links

• Modern news report of a contemporary amuk in the Philippines