'Brain-fag' syndrome: manifestation of transculturation in an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant

Abstract

All cultures have a cognitive map characterizing their people and comprising a framework of orientation values, knowledge, beliefs, and verbal and nonverbal language. In countries such as Israel, where the population constantly varies due to immigration, the cultural framework continuously shifts as it adapts itself to transculturation. The cultural clash is more conspicuous in the field of health where the therapeutic encounter emphasizes the differences between the therapist and the patient. We present a patient who showed a clinical picture of "brain-fag." Ethiopians refer to the brain-fag syndrome as "overworking of the head" due to the strain of studying. Prince, who first described the syndrome in Nigerian students and characterized its symptoms, emphasized that it stems from a cultural clash between African and Western civilizations. Immigration and acculturation, which Ethiopian Jews face, force them to neglect their social and cultural customs and duties or to synthesize them with the new cultural values. A classification of the different types of suicide attempts according to Durkheim (altruistic, anomic & egoistic) and Hollan (indignant) as well as a description of mourning rites and customs of Ethiopian Jewry, and discussion of the brain-fag syndrome unknown to the local mental health system are presented by means of a case illustration. Understanding the phases of ethnic group rituals and clinical syndromes, such as brain-fag, can smooth the absorption process of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, throw light on difficulties immigrants encounter, and facilitate understanding by the absorbing society.