wendigo psychosis

Definitions

A psychological condition specific to some Native American groups, in which a person in fever-induced delusions believes that they are possessed by a cannibalistic wendigo spirit, or in which members of the groups hysterically believe a person to be so possessed.

uncountable

Examples

“"Windigo psychosis" has been the most celebrated culture trait of the Northern Algonkian peoples for almost half a century. […] The conclusion reached is that, although aspects of the windigo belief complex may have⟳ been "components in some individuals' psychological dysfunction" (Preston 1980: 128), there probably never were any windigo psychotics in the sense⟳ that cannibalism or murder⟳ was committed to satisfy⟳ an obsessional craving for human flesh. It is argued, rather that windigo psychosis as an etic/behavioral form⟳ of anthropophagy is an artifact of research⟳ conducted with an emic/mental bias.”

CEFR level