In the field of cultural psychiatry, koro is condition of panic regarding the possibility of genital shrinkage, coupled with fear of impending death. The condition has been reported primarily in the southern coastal provinces of China, occasionally as epidemics affecting hundreds or thousands of people. In 1984-85 there was a massive koro epidemic involving more than 2,000 people in Guangdong, China. Teams of researchers from the Guangdong Psychiatric Research Institute and the University of Hawaii interviewed 232 koro victims. Among the 232 cases, 84 percent involved males and 16 percent involved females. Most were between the ages 10-25, the majority being adolescents. Because they embraced the folk belief that the skinkage of the genitals was caused by the female fox spirit and could be fatal, most were already anxious when they heard the news that about the spread of koro. Before their own attacks, about three-quarters had actually seen others having panic attacks and had witnessed other people attempting to assist a victim. Their own episodes usually began during the night. After the onset of chills, the males experienced a sensation that their penises were shrinking. Thinking this to be a fatal sign, they become panic stricken and pulled at their penises whiles simultaneously shouting for help. They experienced 100% anxiety, 69% felt tremors, 65% had palpitations, 68% shouted in fear and were preoccupied with thoughts of impending death. The female's victims usually complained that their nipples were retracting or their sexual organs were shrinking.
             Upon witnessing the episode, family members and neighbors reacted decisively in the belief that the victims were in need of rescue. They would physically pull at the sexual organs fearing that the genitals might retract into the abdomen and cause death. The victims were fed red pepper jam, black pepper, or ginger juice.
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