Scott Alexander, curated
← Back to curation

Highlights From The Comments On Geography Of Madness

Quality
70
Strong
Claude Shift
48
Moderate
RWI
2
of 10

Follows up on

Book Review: The Geography Of Madness — Book review · Feb 2023

Summary

Substantive companion to The Geography Of Madness, notable for a real Scott position-shift: he gets 'very skeptical about pretty much every culture-bound syndrome on the traditional list' (bouffee delirante = brief psychotic disorder; taijin kyofusho ~ social anxiety + BDD + olfactory-reference; shenkui ~ NoFap). Plus the Turkana-PTSD-isn't-culture-bound study, the koro/cutting social-contagion mechanism, the trans-as-choiceless-society-breakdown discussion, the PMS/ghost-belief correlation, and the cremaster-reflex point.

Why this score

Quality 70 · Strong. Top of the companion band: rich engagement + a genuine update (culture-bound syndromes are subtler/rarer than the book claimed), capped below the 83 parent (ACX-420).

Claude’s paradigm shift 48 · Moderate. Notable: the 'panic-type contagion is culture-bound but chronic conditions much less so' refinement.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. Within-discourse companion; no material effect. =2.