Once happened in Indonesia, Dutch doctors researched the phenomenon of shrinking penises


Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Upon arrival in Sulawesi, the Dutch doctor, J. C Blonk, received the arrival of a prosecutor's patient. The prosecutor complained that there was something different about his body.

The difference lies in the penis. The prosecutor said that his penis had shrunk from normal size. He couldn't accept it, was shocked, and didn't want to die just because of a penis. In response to this, Blonk was quite surprised because during his career as a doctor he had never encountered a case of penis shrinkage.

Long story short, Blonk also conducted research and produced astonishing results that changed the history of medicine. These findings were then outlined in research entitled “Koro.” The word “Koro” itself comes from the Bugis language which means penis shrinkage.


“The cause is an irresistible urge or anxiety neurosis which is aggravated by alcohol,” said Blonk, quoted by Hans Pols in “Psychiatry and Treatment for the Mentally Disordered”.

Blonk revealed that the main cause of koro is mental. The penis of someone who is infected, including the prosecutor, does not actually shrink or get smaller.

Aka, it's all just fear and is closely related to local culture. Moreover, Blonk found that similar cases only occurred in the Makassar area. Based on the Dutch doctor's findings, the medical world began to pay attention to penis shrinkage.

One of the foreign doctors who researched this matter in Indonesia is Wulfften Palthe. In 1934, he observed many people affected by koro. It is said that men try to prevent their penises from entering the body.

Often, they ask for help from their children and wives to hold the penis. Or sometimes installing a barrier piercing so that the penis doesn't just 'drown'.

According to Palthe, this incident was purely caused by anxiety and was related to culture. They are afraid of castration, so strange thoughts arise about the penis, one of which is shrinking. As a result, many of them treated their fears by going to shamans because at that time it was difficult to find psychiatrists in Indonesia.

Thanks to these findings, koro disease is increasingly becoming a concern. In modern times, it turns out that penis shrinkage also occurs in other areas with different names. In fact, this disease caused mass hysteria in Singapore around the 1960s. Many Singaporean men experience penis shrinkage due to excessive anxiety.

Now, the diagnosis of koro is confirmed. The National Institutes of Health calls koro a, “psychiatric disorder characterized by acute anxiety and profound fear of penile shrinkage.”

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

Next Article

34 Days of Israel vs Hamas: Health Workers in Gaza are Frustrated

(mfa/mfa)