The Puerto Rican Syndrome (Cultural Studies) [Paperback]

Patricia Gherovici (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cultural Studies | Publication Date: November 17, 2003

During the 1950's, US Army medical officers noted a new and puzzling syndrome that contemporary psychiatry could neither explain nor cure. These doctors reported that Puerto Rican soldiers under stress behaved in a very peculiar and dramatic manner, exhibiting a theatrical form of pseudo-epilepsy. Startled physicians observed frightened and disoriented patients foaming at the mouth, screaming, biting, kicking, shaking in seizures, and fainting. The phenomenon seemed to correspond to a serious neurological disease yet, as with some forms of hysteria, physical examination failed to identify any sign of an organic origin. This unusual set of symptoms, entered into medical records as "a group of striking psychopathological reaction patterns, precipitated by minor stress," and was designated "Puerto Rican Syndrome."
In this lucid and sophisticated new work, Patricia Gherovici thoroughly examines the so-called Puerto Rican Syndrome in the contemporary world, its social and cultural implications for the growing Hispanic population in the US and, therefore, for the US as a whole. As a mental illness that is, allegedly, uniquely Puerto Rican, this syndrome links nationality and culture to a psychiatric disease whose reappearance recalls the spectacular hysteria that led to the discovery of the unconscious and the birth of psychoanalysis. Gherovici beautifully and systematically uses the combined insights of Freud and Lacan to examine the current state of psychoanalysis and the Hispanic community in America. Blending these insights with history, current events, and her own case material, Gherovici provides a startling, fresh look at Puerto Rican Syndrome as social and cultural phenomenon. She sheds new light on the future of American society and argues that psychoanalysis is not only possible, but much needed in the barrio.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patricia Gherovici is an analyst in private practice and founding member and director of the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group and Seminar. She has published in numerous journals and collections, most recently Where Id Was: Challenging Normalization in Psychoanalysis (Continuum, 2001). She is the former director of a mental health clinic in Philadelphia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Other Press (November 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892746751
• ISBN-13: 978-1892746757
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The continued overpathologization of Puerto Ricans in America., March 5, 2006

By 

Geneva Abiko "Geneva Reynaga-Abiko, Psy.D." - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Puerto Rican Syndrome (Cultural Studies) (Paperback)

The Puerto Rican syndrome is a psychiatric disorder "founded" by U.S. Army medical doctors in the 1950s. They were attempting to understand the symptoms seen in Puerto Rican soldiers returning from the Korean War. Instead of considering these wide range of behaviors in cultural context, they labeled them a disorder. Now, over 50 years later, Gherovici has provided us with a context in which we may better conceptualize the condition. Grounded in history, cultural critique, and Lacanian psychoanalysis, she shows that this group of symptoms is not a disorder, but rather a way that the "patient" tells us about the continued struggle of Puerto Ricans in U.S. society.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in social justice. It will surely be of relevance to those interested in Latina/o issues, the history of Puerto Ricans in the U.S., or psychoanalysis.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okay so I have never read this book (don't attack me just yet), January 2, 2008

By 

A. marrero - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Puerto Rican Syndrome (Cultural Studies) (Paperback)

I just happen to know what the "Puerto Rican syndrome" is and its funny because while it doesn't happen much with my generation, it occurs within my mothers and more frequently within my grandmothers more. All this has to do with is social acceptance and while being graceful at all times is seen as appropriate in American culture being graceful in times of tragedy is not seen too positively in Puerto Rican culture- Puerto Ricans would know the word "Fria" in English Cold Hearted. Culturally having these sort of nervous breakdowns are accepted and seen as normal- as an expression of emotion- I witnessed my grandma go through it a handful of times when I was a kid. All this comes to is cultural difference- think about the cultures that see two men kissing as normal- would we call them depraved- not in todays world. However, if we saw two men in our culture doing the same we would be guestioning their sexuality. Culture people thats all but I most say based on the subject matter this most be a very interesting and to Puerto Ricans with a sense of humor an ammusing book.