 When the Western medical community encountered abnormal conditions presenting in patients practicing qigong, they used the term "Qi-gong psychotic reaction" and classified the disorder as a culture-bound syndrome in the 4th edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual" (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.It is described as

In order to diagnose this disease in the West, practitioners determine the cultural formation of the patient; this includes their cultural reference group and how that culture might explain their illness.The DSM-IV classification has been criticized by other Western psychiatrists on the grounds that

The appearance of symptoms during or after qigong practice has been explained in various ways by the psychiatric community, in severe cases as an indication of latent psychosis.