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Indian Journal of Psychiatry logoLink to Indian Journal of Psychiatry
. 2001 Jan-Mar;43(1):70–72.

“GILAHARI (LIZARD) SYNDROME” IS IT A NEW CULTURE BOUND SYNDROME? - A CASE REPORT

KK Verma *,*, MM Bhojak , AK Singhal , OP Jhirwal §, Archana Khunteta
PMCID: PMC2955937  PMID: 21407843

Abstract

Culture bound syndromes are generally limited to specific societies or cultural areas and are localized. Authors report a case which seems to be a new culture bound syndrome, has atypical presentation and difficult to categories but could be diagnosed as somatoform NOS (F-45.9). This syndrome is commonly called Gilahari (Lizard) among local public and considered to be very serious and fatal illness prevalent in areas of west Rajasthan. According to public a small swelling climbs from the back reaches to neck leading to obstruction of airways and followed by death, though after examination and investigation patient did not revealed any physical illness so is seems to be a new culture bound syndrome.

Keywords: Culture bound syndrome, Gilahari, somatoform disorder

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