Koro is a syndrome in which the penis (or sometimes the nipples or
vulva) is retracting, with deleterious effects for the
sufferer. In modern psychiatry, it is considered a
culture-bound syndrome (CBS). The history of how this fear, usually presenting as a penis shrinking anxiety and initially reported in Southeast Asia.
Most of the victims complain about episodes of acute attack of genital retraction or genital shrinkage, sometimes both. Each episode usually lasted several hours, though the duration can be as long as two days. There are cases in which koro symptoms persist for years with either chronic and continuous or recurrent history.
This paper considers the formation and
development
of psychiatric conceptions of koro and related
genital retraction syndromes from the 1890s to the present. attention
is also paid to the recent genital-theft panics in
sub-Saharan Africa, considering the implications of the differences
between
koro and other genital-theft panics. Finally, the
paper addresses the role played by koro in the development of the
concept
of CBSs, which was first presented in the DSM IV in 1994. This is explored against the backdrop of emerging ideas about culture and psychiatry from the late colonial period,
especially in Africa, which are central to modern ideas about transcultural psychiatry.
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Crozier, I. (2012). Making Up Koro: Multiplicity, Psychiatry, Culture, and Penis-Shrinking Anxieties. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 67 (1): 36-70. DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/jrr008 
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