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Latah is a culturally-bound mental illness in which those afflicted (more frequently middle-aged women) experience an array of symptoms due to their increased sensitivity to unexpected frights. These symptoms can include sudden mimicking of another's actions or movements, in addition to the repetition of someone's words in succession. Sometimes the words spoken might be considered obscene. This mental illness can also cause one to obey commands from people around them and cause the afflicted person to behave as if in a trance. This can serve as a good source of entertainment for friends and families of affected individuals. Many videos can be found online depicting friends and family intentionally surprising their loved ones with Latah. A Latah attack may last only minutes or can last up to several hours depending on the frequency of the frights that triggered the attack. Usually after an attack, the afflicted individual has no recollection of anything that happened during the event. The cause of Latah is relatively unknown. Many scientists agree that this syndrome is brought on by a sudden traumatic event in one’s life. However, there have been recorded cases of Latah in which the individual afflicted with Latah was unable to recall any traumatic event. People afflicted with this condition are referred to as Latahs. On occasion these individuals might experience symptoms involving situations in which they might begin singing out loud, saying sexually explicit words, or touching or hitting other people. They are given a defined role in society and are given their own set of rules and understanding by non-afflicted peoples. A Latah may be allowed to break social convention by swearing or acting out physically, but sexual indecency or violence are not generally tolerated regardless of mental illness. However, sexual indecency and violence are rare symptoms of this disease and do not occur very often. Although the condition has been found in many parts of the world, the name for this illness originates from Malaysian or Indonesian culture. Although this syndrome is more likely to be found in these cultures, there have been discoveries of similar ailments in Burma (yaun), Thailand (bah- tsche), and the Philippines (mali-mali), among Siberian indigenous tribes (myriachit), and among the Ainu of Japan (imo). Incidences of this syndrome in the western areas of the world are a matter of debate and there have been no official records of such occurrences. All references cited on this page were used in the construction of this article.