`Hit by the Wind' and Temperature-Shift Panic among Vietnamese Refugees

Abstract

Surveying 60 Vietnamese patients with either current or past post-traumatic stress disorder, this article aims to phenomenologically characterize the syndrome of `hit by the wind' in a multidimensional manner. This includes determining the patient conceptualization of the disorder, profiling `hit by the wind' episodes suffered by patients in the previous month, and presenting case vignettes. Eighteen of the 60 patients (30%) suffered at least one episode of `hit by the wind' in the last month; all 18 patients had at least one episode of `hit by the wind' in the last month that met panic attack criteria. For the 18 patients, 33 episodes of `hit by the wind' that met panic attack criteria were experienced in the previous month. For these 33 episodes, the most frequently reported DSM-IV panic attack symptoms were chills (100%; 33/33) and dizziness (88%; 29/33). Flashbacks played a role in the `hit by the wind' episodes for 5 of the 18 patients (28%). In the discussion, a model of how the syndrome of `hit by the wind' generates panic is adduced; also, possible Chinese origins of the disorder are discussed.

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