locura

Locura, which translates to "insanity" in Spanish, is a mental disorder characterized as severe chronic psychosis. The term refers to a culture-bound syndrome, found mostly in Latin America and Latin Americans in the United States. Also referred to as ataques de locura (meaning "madness attacks"), it is categorized as a more severe form of nervios ataque de nervios with symptoms appearing similar to those of schizophrenia.
Hispanic families describing affected loved ones with "nervios" often focused on the "agitated behavior" and how it progresses into the belief that the affected loved one will fall more "susceptible to many health problems". Many families, most notably of Hispanic origin, believe that children are more vulnerable to developing such symptoms as their "nerves" (translation from spanish), are more prone to being damaged; a belief that is relatively prevalent amongst such communities.
As the term may have multiple meanings in multiple environments, research on locura is limited and conflicting. The term can be used loosely in Spanish when discussing madness in other psychological meaning, specifically describing a "deviance from the norm due to mental illness." Besides for the implications found in the DSM-IV, the word is not used in English.

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