🔗 Running amok

🔗 Psychology 🔗 Indonesia 🔗 Southeast Asia 🔗 Malaysia 🔗 Southeast Asia/Brunei

Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok or having gone amok, also spelled amuck or amuk, from the Southeast Asian Austronesian languages (especially Malaysian and Indonesian), is "an episode of sudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding that has traditionally been regarded as occurring especially in Malay culture but is now increasingly viewed as psychopathological behavior". The syndrome of "Amok" is found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV TR). The phrase is often used in a less serious manner when describing something that is wildly out of control or causing a frenzy (e.g., a dog tearing up the living room furniture might be termed as "running amok").