Piblokto, a psychiatric syndrome described by Arctic explorers, may have been an invention of explorers and not a true syndrome, according to research on Canadian Aboriginal and Inuit populations. The syndrome was described as screaming, depression, withdrawal from society, lack of sensitivity to cold, echolalia, and eating non-food items. The behavior may have been a reaction to stress rather than the harsh Arctic conditions. The syndrome may have been sensationalized by explorers to recoup the costs of expeditions.
Piblokto or pibloktoq is a psychiatric syndrome that was first described by explorers in the arctic regions of the world. It has since been extensively covered and can even be found in psychiatric texts, with theories to explain it ranging from vitamin A toxicity to harsh climate. However, research on Canadian Aboriginal and Inuit populations highlighted by Canadian journalist Sarah Efron has suggested that piblokto may actually have been an invention of explorers and not a true syndrome. The psychiatric community is often slow to catch up, and there is some controversy over the veracity of piblokto’s reports.
Arctic explorers described actions they believed to be signs of mental disorder including screaming, depression, withdrawal from society, lack of sensitivity to cold and echolalia, in which people repeat nonsense sounds. Some people have also described situations where people ate items not normally considered food, including feces. The explorers asked the native populations what word they would use to describe the syndrome and wrote “pibloktoq” or “piblokto,” but, according to Efron, these words appear to be misspellings or confusions because they don’t seem to exist.
It was common for European explorers to mix up native words or spell them wrong. At a time when the spelling of English words was still wildly inconsistent, people attempting to transcribe words in foreign languages often found some variations to be very creative. There are several Inuit words similar to “piblokto” that describe various states of mental distress, and it may be that these words were used and that explorers misunderstood them.
Some Canadian historians who have studied piblokto have suggested that what the explorers considered “madness” may actually have been a reaction to stress. European explorers strongly emphasized the communities they interacted with, especially when they brought along members of the native population to use as guides and assistants. It is possible that the behavior observed and reported by some explorers was indeed aberrant, but it had less to do with the harsh conditions of the Arctic than with the conditions encountered among the groups of explorers.
Referred to as “Arctic madness” or “Arctic hysteria,” piblokto may have been sensationalized by some explorers, as many adventurers needed to recoup the costs of expeditions through book sales, lectures, and similar activities. Once the piblokto concept entered canon, it proved difficult to remove, with a handful of anecdotal accounts amplified.
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