Koro (disease)

Not to be confused with Kuru (disease).

Koro
Other namesGenital retraction syndrome, shrinking penis
SpecialtyPsychiatry

Koro is a culture bound delusional disorder in which individuals have an overpowering belief that their sex organs are retracting and will disappear, despite the lack of any true longstanding changes to the genitals.[1][2] Koro is also known as shrinking penis, and was listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The syndrome occurs worldwide, and mass hysteria of genital-shrinkage anxiety has a history in Africa, Asia and Europe.[3] In the United States and Europe, the syndrome is commonly known as genital retraction syndrome.[4]

The condition can be diagnosed through psychological assessment along with physical examination to rule out genuine disorders of the genitalia that could be causing true retraction.[5][6]

The word was borrowed from Malay and means the head of a turtle (or tortoise), referring to how it looks when they retract their heads into their shells.[7][8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference DSM-IV-TR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Koro". dictionary.com. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  3. ^ Mattelaer, Johan J.; Jilek, Wolfgang (September 2007). "SEXUAL MEDICINE HISTORY: Koro—The Psychological Disappearance of the Penis". The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 4 (5): 1509–1515. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007.00586.x. PMID 17727356.
  4. ^ "Top 10 Little-Known Mental Disorders". Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  5. ^ Chowdhury, Arabinda N. (March 1996). "The definition and classification of Koro". Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 20 (1): 41–65. doi:10.1007/BF00118750. PMID 8740958. S2CID 12734087.
  6. ^ Ghanem, Hussein; Glina, Sidney; Assalian, Pierre; Buvat, Jacques (January 2013). "Position Paper: Management of Men Complaining of a Small Penis Despite an Actually Normal Size". The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 10 (1): 294–303. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02725.x. PMID 22512935.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Yap 1965 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Gorvett, Zaria. "What we can learn from 'untranslatable' illnesses". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 9 June 2020.