User:RickyBobby20

A syndrome similar to that of Social Phobia in the DSM-IV, Taijin Kyofusho is a distinctive phobia found almost exclusively in the Japanese culture. Symptoms of this disease have been known to include a person’s overwhelming internal belief that their body somehow displeases or offends others. This causes the person to become extremely embarrassed and anxious, believing that their odor, facial expressions, or movements cause disgust to others. This disorder is officially recognized as a Japanese diagnostic system disorder.

Taijin kyofusho is a Japanese disorder often compared with DSM social anxiety disorder (known in the West as social phobia). Some common sypmtoms, most notably the fear of making eye contact and blushing/flushing of the face, are shared by people with both disorders. However, Taijin kyofusho can also cause symptoms that do not fall under the same categories within the DSM, such as depression and dysmorphophobia. This is one reason why it has been attributed as a 'culture-bound' sickness.

Taijin kyofusho often centers on concerns about embarrassing others with one's presence, rather than embarrassing one's self in the presence of others. This disorder is often beleived to begin in childhood and is seen in men more commonly than women.

Often, people with Taijin kyofusho report that they fear offending or causing harm to others, rather than having a fear of what others think of them, which is more often reported in Western society by sufferers of social phobias. The focus, then, is on avoiding harm to others rather than to ones' self.

Treatment
Treatments of the disorder usually involve several steps of psychiatric visists and patient isolation, and sometiems Morita therapy. Dursing treatment, the patient may be forced to have long bed rests, write in diaries or journals, manual labor, and lectures on the importance of posotive self image. Severe forms of treatment usually include strict isolation in which the patient is forced to have bed rest and encouraged to do nothing, encounter no stimulation, not even think. This is done in order to lead the patient to severe boredom, in which the patient will then be more willing to interact with others. At this time, there are no medications specifically for this disorder, however some medicines for similar social anxiety disorders may be prescribed.