Is Taijin Kyofusho a Culturally-Bound Syndrome or a Form of Social Phobia?

초록

Taijin Kyofusho (TKS) is a type of social anxiety thought to occur mainly in Japan. The relationship of TKS with features of Japanese culture is described. Proposing that TKS is a variant of social phobia, we note that TKS appears to be found in other cultures, and has similarities to social phobias that are characterized by a preoccupation with body image and physical appearance. Consistent with the notion that TKS is a variant of social phobia, TKS in Japan and social phobia in western cultures appear to have similar courses, gender distributions, and associated familial factors. To understand how the genotype underlying social phobia may lead to different phenotypic expressions, we speculate about the role that cultural differences in self-construal may play and discuss the implications of our model. Recognizing the speculative nature of our theory and the limited amount of research on TKS, future research is needed to determine whether TKS is a distinct, culturally-bound syndrome, or a form of social phobia.

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