Fijac: fright and illness in highland Yemen

Sudden fright, 'fijac', has played an important role in the traditional explanatory models of illness experiences in highland Yemen. Fijac is quite similar to other examples of the fright illness taxon in that it is a folk-illness category that is attributed to a wide variety of underlying conditions. It is argued that given the extremely labile symptomatology, fijac, like other examples of the fright illness taxon, does not constitute a culture-bound psychiatric syndrome. Based on analysis of case studies and preliminary survey data, fijac appears to be much more common among folk etiologies offered by Yemeni women than men. It is suggested that this social profile might be explained by changes in the distribution of medical knowledge in Yemen. With the rapid rate of social change and the increased exposure to cosmopolitan medicine resulting from internal development of cosmopolitan health care and international labor migration, men have supplemented their traditional explanatory models with alternatives drawn from cosmopolitan medicine. Succumbing to illness as a result of fright is contradictory to the male ideal of the courageous tribesman; alternative explanatory models that do not challenge this ideal self predominate. By contrast, the Yemeni value system defines women and children as vulnerable and weak; therefore, being subject to the impact of fright is consistent with youth and the cultural definition of the female self.