Culture-Bound Syndromes: Bilis, Colera

Bilis and colera refer literally to bile or gall, but also to a Latino culture-bound syndrome in which physical illness is brought on by suppressed emotions or an uncontrolled emotional outburst, such as coraje (anger). For individuals who are characterized by an angry personality, constant irritability generates excessive bile and produces phlegm in the stomach. Un derrame de bilis (a spillage of bile, producing a type of emotional shock), left untreated, can create digestive problems and physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual toxicity in the individual. Excessive bile that is released throughout the body causes dysentery, liver ailments (such as cirrhosis and hepatitis), digestive conditions, and nervous breakdown. Protection from illness comes to those who become physically and mentally strong and who are neutral with their ...