A cross-cultural approach to the study of the folk illness nervios

• Published in: Culture, medicine and psychiatry medicine and psychiatry, 2003-09, Vol.27 (3), p.315-337
• Main Authors: Baer, Roberta D, Weller, Susan C, de Alba Garcia, Javier Garcia, Glazer, Mark, Trotter, Robert, Pachter, Lee, Klein, Robert E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - ethnology; Anxiety Disorders - therapy; Attitude to Health - ethnology; Comparative analysis; Connecticut; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cultural differences; Cultural Diversity; Culture; Female; Folk beliefs; Folk culture; Gender; Guatemala; Guatemala - ethnology; Health; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Humans; Illness; Illnesses; Interviews as Topic; Latin American Cultural Groups; Male; Medical anthropology; Medicine; Medicine, Traditional; Mental health; Mental Illness; Mexican Americans; Mexico; Mexico - ethnology; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Mortality; Population; Preventive medicine; Psychiatry; Psychological Stress; Publishing; Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico - ethnology; Regional Differences; Reproducibility of Results; Sex Factors; Stress, Psychological - diagnosis; Stress, Psychological - ethnology; Stress, Psychological - therapy; Symptoms; Texas; Treatment methods; U.S.A; United States of America
• ISSN: 0165-005X; 1573-076X
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1025351231862

To systematically study and document regional variations in descriptions of nervios, we undertook a multisite comparative study of the illness among Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Guatemalans. We also conducted a parallel study on susto (Weller et al. 2002, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 26(4): 449-472), which allows for a systematic comparison of these illnesses across sites. The focus of this paper is inter- and intracultural variations in descriptions in four Latino populations of the causes, symptoms, and treatments of nervios, as well as similarities and differences between nervios and susto in these same communities. We found agreement among all four samples on a core description of nervios, as well as some overlap in aspects of nervios and susto. However, nervios is a much broader illness, related more to continual stresses. In contrast, susto seems to be related to a single stressful event.