Voodoo Death Research Articles

Deciphering visceral instincts: a scientific quest to unravel food choices from molecules to mind.

The study of biological mechanisms, while crucial, cannot fully explain complex phenomena like the instinct to eat. The mind-body connection, as exemplified by the concept of "voodoo death," highlights the profound influence of belief and cultural context on physiology. Indigenous knowledge systems further emphasize the interconnectedness of humans with their environment. Recent discoveries in gut-brain communication reveal the intricate neural circuits that drive our visceral desires, but a holistic approach that integrates both physiological mechanisms and the subjective experience of life, informed by diverse cultural perspectives, will be essential to truly understand what it means to be alive.

La parole entre croyance et savoir, impasses subjectives en soins palliatifs

Based on a cross-disciplinary analysis — carried out by a medical doctor and a psychologist — as well as a psychoanalytical, philosophical, and ethnological reading of a clinical case encountered by both authors in a palliative care service, we identify and explore some of the issues related to speech and to the relationship of care in the particular context of the end-of-life period. Our reflections have led us to explore the following points. In some cases, serious and incurable diseases are diagnosed and announced to patients before they have experienced it in their own bodies. At this stage, the disease therefore only exists on the basis of an interpretation of biological and radiological test results, provided by a “knowing figure.” In this specific context, we question the stakes and effects of this person's discourse, which absolutely contradicts the patient's permanent and continuous bodily experience. Throughout the stages of a serious disease, physical pain can have a range of different effects. On a relational level, it can represent a kind of screen onto which the existential suffering of the patient is projected and communicated to others in complaints. Simultaneously, in terms of the patient's psychic economy, this pain sucks up all the available energy, like a black hole, and thus considerably impoverishes the subject's self. We propose to study pain during the end-of-life period in terms of the functions it could perform, in response to the subjective impasses with which palliative care patients may be confronted. Finally, an anthropological reading raises the question of “voodoo death” and of the doctor's shamanic position — particularly in palliative care —, which we found to be relevant theoretical illustrations of how some patients can heed and believe a knowing figure's words. Some acts, words, or attitudes towards the palliative care patient may be experienced by the subject or their loved ones as a prediction of their imminent death, leaving little room for the desire to participate in life and hindering the opportunity to project oneself into a possible future.

Attack the ATAK : “οὓς ὁ θεὸς συνέζευξε, ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω” (ous o theos synezeuxe anthropos me horizeto) “what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder”

“Voodoo Death”was the title of a paper published, more than half a century ago [1], by the renowned American physiologist Walter B. Cannon and was based on anecdotal experiences, largely from the anthropology literature, dealing with death from fright. “Voodoo” is of African origin and concerns superstitious beliefs and practices found among Negroes of West Indies and Southern United States. Canon was the first to postulate that death from fright is caused by a lasting and intense action of sympathico-adrenal system. Phrases such as “scared to death” and “a broken heart”, are still used today and are deeply rooted in folk wisdom and reflect potentially lethal consequences of emotional, depressogenic or mental stress. Indeed, terms such as broken heart syndrome, transient left ventricular apical ballooning, stress-induced cardiomyopathy, apical ballooning syndrome, atypical apical ballooning, ampulla cardiomyopathy or transient left ventricular dysfunction syndrome characterize the takotsubo syndrome that usually follows emotional distress. This clinical entity has been excessively discussed nowadays but there are many questions regarding its etiology, pathophysiology and treatment which still remain unanswered. It has been emphasized recently [2] that adrenaline, takotsubo, anaphylaxis, and Kounis syndrome (ATAK) constitute a challenging contemporary complex that needs “attacking” in order to elucidate its etiology and pathophysiology and apply the proper preventive and therapeutic measures.

Lying to Win—Placebos and Sport Science

introduce an intrigu-ing Thomas Jefferson quote from 1807 addressing “pious fraud”: “One of the most successful physicians I have ever known has assured me that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powders of hickory ashes, than of all other medicines put together” (quote from reference 6).When it comes to winning at the highest levels of sport, it may be the case that many “sport scientists” have either stretched the truth or simply blatantly lied to an elite athlete in hopes of improving sporting performance. If research is correct and belief effects are indeed pow-erful, should lying to an athlete in hopes of improving performance be considered an acceptable practice? What should we think of sport science “gurus” who confidently administer dubious ergogenic aids they barely understand if the outcome is a victorious athlete? As suggested by Thomas Jefferson, history reveals that physicians have been prescribing placebos for more than 200 years in an attempt to make patients feel better.For the uninitiated, it is easy to overlook how power -ful a belief effect can be and thus the importance of this topic. But consider for a moment the insightful paper published in 1954 by Professor Walter B. Cannon from the Harvard Medical School titled “Voodoo Death.”

Voodoo Adherents Invite Visitors Into Their World

Voodoo Adherents Invite Visitors Into Their World

Voodoo Death

Scholarly writing on voodoo death is reviewed. Criticisms that voodoo deaths in indigenous societies have never been well documented are refuted with cases medically documented in developed nations. The work of Cannon and Richter on sudden death in animals is reviewed and dismissed as irrelevant for understanding voodoo death. The role of starvation and dehydration is discussed, and it is suggested that the given-up/giving-up hypothesis best fits the phenomenon of voodoo death. Hypotheses for future research are suggested.

Nocebo Responses to Antihypertensive Medications

Apatient was seen in consultation for intolerance to multiple antihypertensive medications. She presented a list of her experiences, which is summarized in the Table. Although the cough she experienced while taking angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors was a typical side effect of this drug class and consistent on rechallenge, this was not the case with her other reported medication reactions. When the patient received the same medication labeled in the same way (Calan SR), she had diarrhea on both occasions. When she received the same medication labeled differently (Calan SR or Verelan and Cozaar or Hyzaar), her reactions differed. The patient listed valsartan, propranolol, hydralazine, and indapamide as ineffective, but it was not clarified whether they were tolerated. The patient was taking one-fourth 100 mg metoprolol twice a day, but experienced headache and heartburn at higher doses, and clonidine 0.1 mg daily, but experienced a localized rash at higher doses. She had been hospitalized on one occasion for hypertension and on another occasion for hypertension and ‘‘stress.’’ She was currently taking alprazolam. She summarized her view of antihypertensive medications as ‘‘I am scared of them.’’ She added that statins raised her blood pressure, but she was tolerating levothyroxine. After an explanation for the origin of these nonspecific side effects was provided to the patient, she stated that she did not believe this accounted for her reactions.

Psychogenic death: individual effects of sorcery and taboo violation

Can social causes directly effect physiological processes? In many parts of the world, there are reports that those who have broken a ritual prohibition or hold that they are victims of sorcery give up and die, a phenomenon labelled by anthropologists as voodoo death. The mechanisms for this remain controversial. The features include: lethargy, lack of motivation, extreme guilt, social withdrawal, reduced appetite and thirst, and ultimately death. Although a belief in the power of sorcery is rare among indigenous white British people, it is not uncommon among ethnic minorities and may be diagnosed as a delusion. The author reports two cases from his own clinical experience in a Western setting that raise the question as to whether the phenomenon is similar to depression and what can be done about it. In one case, the victim made a rapid recovery once the curse was removed. Is death really an individual or a social phenomenon?

Death Watch in East Arnhem, Australia

Glascock and subsequent workers deserve much more information to help them distinguish between Yolngu persons who are socially intact, and those whose deaths may be hastened and who are thus defined as decrepit. In practice, most of those whose deaths are hastened are suffering from a terminal illness that would carry them off in a matter of months rather than years. The distinction between the intact and the decrepit is not centrally relevant to my article, which is about voodoo death in its Australian guise, and so it was not discussed. Voodoo death essentially involves the rejection of a victim of sorcery or a person who has breached taboo, people whom Glascock considers as falling into the category of decrepit. I hoped to demonstrate that the proximate cause of their deaths is the withholding of fluids. The reason that deaths of the old or infirm were mentioned at all in the article was that there

The Forefather Needs No Fluids: Voodoo Death and Its Simulacra

The Forefather Needs No Fluids: Voodoo Death and Its Simulacra

A Psychophysiological Interpretation of Voodoo Illness and Voodoo Death

Voodoo illness is a form of psychosomatic illness. When sufficiently intense and prolonged, the extreme physiological arousal pattern to stimulation that comprises emotional behavior produces pathological changes in physiological functioning and anatomic structure, which are psychophysiological and psychosomatic disorders. New stimuli may become associated with established autonomic reaction patterns that are emotional behavior; also particular autonomic reactions may be strengthened through differential reinforcement. Thus, emotional stimuli and emotional response patterns may be learned. When the emotional reaction patterns are sufficiently frequent or prolonged and sufficiently intense in the person socially prepared to react and physically predisposed (i.e., vulnerable via genetically determined or later acquired biological weakness), changes of such magnitude may occur in physiological functioning or anatomical structure as to be incompatible with continued life. Voodoo death corresponds to that formulation of psychosomatic death.

PERSPECTIVES OF THE PLACEBO PHENOMENON: Belief as Pathogen, Belief as Medicine: “Voodoo Death” and the “Placebo Phenomenon” in Anthropological Perspective

Medical Anthropology QuarterlyVolume 14, Issue 4 p. 3-19 Free Access PERSPECTIVES OF THE PLACEBO PHENOMENON: Belief as Pathogen, Belief as Medicine: “Voodoo Death” and the “Placebo Phenomenon” in Anthropological Perspective Robert A. Hahn PhD, Robert A. Hahn PhD Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of WashingtonSearch for more papers by this authorArthur Kleinman MD, MA, Arthur Kleinman MD, MA Anthropology and Psychiatry, Harvard UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Robert A. Hahn PhD, Robert A. Hahn PhD Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of WashingtonSearch for more papers by this authorArthur Kleinman MD, MA, Arthur Kleinman MD, MA Anthropology and Psychiatry, Harvard UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: August 1983 https://doi.org/10.1525/maq.1983.14.4.02a00030Citations: 2AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume14, Issue4August 1983Pages 3-19 This article also appears in:Knowing Better? Epistemological Bounds in MAQ from 1975-2021 ReferencesRelatedInformation

"Voodoo Death" and Dehydration

American AnthropologistVolume 85, Issue 2 p. 420-421 Free Access “Voodoo Death” and Dehydration JOHN CAWTE, JOHN CAWTE Prince Henry Hospital Matraville, N. S. W.Search for more papers by this author JOHN CAWTE, JOHN CAWTE Prince Henry Hospital Matraville, N. S. W.Search for more papers by this author First published: June 1983 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1983.85.2.02a00220Citations: 4AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume85, Issue2June 1983Pages 420-421 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Death-Hastening Behavior: An Expansion of Eastwell's Thesis

American AnthropologistVolume 85, Issue 2 p. 417-420 Free Access Death-Hastening Behavior: An Expansion of Eastwell's Thesis ANTHONY P. GLASCOCK, ANTHONY P. GLASCOCK University of WyomingSearch for more papers by this author ANTHONY P. GLASCOCK, ANTHONY P. GLASCOCK University of WyomingSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1983 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1983.85.2.02a00210Citations: 4AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL REFERENCES CITED Eastwell, Harry D. 1982 Voodoo Death and the Mechanism for Dispatch of the Dying in East Arnhem, Australia. American Anthropologist 84: 5– 18. Glascock, Anthony P., and Robert W. Braden 1981 Transitions of Being: Death and Dying in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, December 1981, Los Angeles. Glascock, Anthony P., and Susan L. Feinman 1980a A Holocultural Analysis of Old Age. Comparative Social Research 3: 311– 332. Glascock, Anthony P., and Susan L. Feinman 1980b Toward a Comparative Fieldwork: Propositions Concerning the Treatment of the Aged in Non-Industrial Societies. In New Methods for Old Age Research. C. Fry and J. Keith, eds. pp. 204– 222. Chicago : Loyola University of Chicago. Glascock, Anthony P., and Susan L. Feinman 1981 Social Asset or Social Burden: An Analysis of the Treatment of the Aged in Non-Industrial Societies. In Dimensions: Aging, Culture and Health. C. Fry, ed. pp. 13– 31. New York : Praeger. Guemple, D. Lee 1969 Human Resource Management: The Dilemma of the Aging Eskimo. Sociological Symposium 2: 59– 74. Simmons, Leo W. 1970 [1945] The Role of the Aged in Primitive Society. New Haven : Archon Books. Simmons, Leo W. 1960 Aging in Pre-Industrial Societies. In Handbook of Social Gerontology. C. Tibbits, ed. pp. 62– 91. Chicago : University of Chicago Press. Stenning, Derrick J. 1965 The Pastoral Fulani of Northern Nigeria. In Peoples of Africa. J. Gibbs, ed. pp. 361– 402. New York : Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Vatuk, Sylvia 1978 Withdrawal and Disengagement as a Cultural Response to Aging in India. Paper presented at American Anthropological Association Meeting. December 1978, Los Angeles. Citing Literature Volume85, Issue2June 1983Pages 417-420 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Voodoo and Sudden Death: The Effects of Expectations on Health

Voodoo and Sudden Death: The Effects of Expectations on Health

Voodoo Death and the Mechanism for Dispatch of the Dying in East Arnhem, Australia

A similar psychosocial sequence surrounds cases of voodoo death and cases where dying is expedited. Predeath obsequies and fatalism in the victim are common to both. The death mechanism in both is dehydration by confiscation of fluids. Intervention in two voodoo death sequences involved rehydrating the victim. As medical services extend to remote Aborigines, deaths with prominent psychosocial components that resemble voodoo death become diagnosable as orthodox medical conditions, [voodoo death, Australian Aboriginals, dehydration]

Forensic Sciences Aspects of Santeria, a Religious Cult of African Origin

Abstract The anatomic, cultural, and legal aspects of Santeria, a religious cult of African origin, as experienced by the Dade County Medical Examiner's Office, are presented. Human skeletal parts are generally found in association with an obvious ritual or may be discovered in shallow graves. Their ritualistic use is often suggested by their association with pennies, chicken feathers, evidence of prolonged internment, rust, or accoutrements characteristic of the cult. Although some specimens were obviously purchased or were previously used as anatomic specimens, others have obscure origins. In one instance the source was proven to be a grave robbing that had taken place 30 months earlier. The potential for “voodoo death“ and outright homicide is discussed. It is anticipated that evidence of Santeria rituals will extend to other parts of the United States as Carribbean immigration continues.

Voodoo Death: New Thoughts on an Old Explanation1

Extant physiological explanations of “voodoo death” are augmented with information about neurophysiological research on sensitization, or tuning, of the autonomic nervous system. The process of suggestion is defined as incorporating both an automatic and cognitive component in tuned individuals; the significance of autonomic tuning in cause and cure of psychosomatic illness and in voodoo death is explored.

Psychological death: an adaptive response to life-threatening illness.

A 50-year-old man with documented multiple myeloma of two years duration was admitted to a psychiatric ward with the complaint of “being dead.” Discussion of the development of his complaints illustrates important issues, an understanding of which may be helpful in providing optimal care of any patient with a life-threatening illness. “Being dead” had significant individual symbolic meanings which developed from the patient's past and current conflicts and from his perceptions of changes in his body image resulting from the disease process. “Being dead” furthermore was a statement of the reflected appraisal of environmental neglect and in this context was closely related to “voodoo death.” Psychological “self-destruction” through “being dead” served to communicate anger and evoke guilt in the interpersonal environment while at the same time adaptively evoking reassurance, increased interpersonal contact, concern and amelioration of loneliness and alienation. Psychological “death” and “rebirth” also represented a quest for immortality; and complaints, through their potential to evoke humor, seemed an ironic mockery of death. In the context of a life-threatening illness, recognition and appreciation of many psychological phenomena as adaptive are necessary in order to aid both the patient and the care-giving environment to achieve a reasonable level of adaptation in the face of death.

Voodoo Death: Some New Thoughts on an Old Phenomenon

Criticisms of the validity of the phenomenon of death by suggestion are reviewed and rebutted. Two theories of the mechanism of death by suggestion, proposed by Cannon and Richter, are described, and a new theory is proposed. The new theory is based on Engel's concept of the giving up-given up complex in medically ill patients and is shown to be capable of generating testable predictions about the phenomenon of voodoo death.