The social meanings of nervios: A case study of a central American woman

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(88)90154-2

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 26, Issue 12, 1988, Pages 1223-1231

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(88)90154-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper analyzes nervious among Central American refugees living in the United States. Nervious is analyzed as personal descriptions of distress, statements about family relations, and commentaries on the broader social forces affecting people's lives. A description of theclinical presentations of 28 Salvadorans who suffer from nervious and an indepth analysis of an extended interview with a nervous suffer are presented to examine the multiple meanings of nervious. Nervious is identified as a powerful idiom of distress used by Latinos to express concerns about physical symptoms, emotional states, and changes both in the family and in the broader society.

References (16)

S.M. Low
Culturally interpreted symptoms or culturebound syndromes
Soc. Sci. Med.
(1985)
A. Kleinman
How illness means and how such meanings affect illness behavior
M. Nichter
Idioms of distress
Cult. Med. Psychiat.
(1981)
C.D. Parsons
Idioms of distress
Cult. Med. Psychiat.
(1984)
S.M. Low
The meaning of nervios
Cult. Med. Psychiat.
(1981)
Guarnaccia P.J., DeLaCancela V. and Carrillo E. The multiple meanings of ataques de nervios in the Latino community....
A. Kleinman et al.
Culture, illness, and care
Ann. intern. Med.
(1978)
B.J. Good et al.
Toward a meaning-centered analysis of popular illness categories

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (88)

Synergistic effects of pain intensity and experiential avoidance in relation to anxiety symptoms and disorders among economically disadvantaged latinos in a community-based primary care setting
2017, Journal of Anxiety Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
Fourth, the current examination was focused on general manifestations of some of the most common forms of anxiety symptoms. However, the interactive model of experiential avoidance and pain intensity also may possibly be applicable to other more culturally-specific forms of distress or stress like ataque de nervios and nervios among Latinos (Dura-Vila & Hodes, 2012; Guarnaccia & Farias, 1988). Finally, although the Latino sample studied contained a heterogeneous array of ethnic groups, the majority was represented by persons who identified as Mexican/Mexican-American and Central American.
Latinos are subject to numerous health inequalities, including mental health disparity for anxiety and its disorders. In fact, there is strikingly little understanding of transdiagnostic risk factors for the onset and development of anxiety symptoms and disorders among Latinos. To build knowledge in this domain, the present investigation examined the interactive effects of experiential avoidance and pain intensity in relation to anxious arousal, social anxiety, and anxiety disorders among 361 Latino adults with annual incomes of less than $30,000 (87.5% female; M_age = 38.8, SD = 11.4, and 98.5% used Spanish as their first language) who attended a community-based primary healthcare clinic. As hypothesized, the interaction between experiential avoidance and pain intensity was significantly related to anxious arousal, social anxiety, and a number of anxiety disorders over and above the effects of other factors. The form of the significant interactions indicated that participants reporting co-occurring higher levels of experiential avoidance and pain intensity evinced the greatest levels of anxious arousal, social anxiety, and anxiety disorders. These data provide novel empirical evidence suggesting that there is clinically-relevant interplay between experiential avoidance and pain intensity in regard to a relatively wide array of anxiety problems among Latinos in a primary care medical setting.
Cultural Models of Health and Illness
2013, Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health: Assessment and Treatment of Diverse Populations: Second Edition
The highly subjective nature of illness and the frequent ambiguity in diagnosis, management, and treatment require patients and providers to frame illness experiences in terms of meaningful concepts and vocabularies. For physicians this framing is based on the language of science; for patients it is often based on cultural beliefs, practices, and local vocabularies of distress. The ambiguity inherent in the subjective experience of disease means that researchers and practitioners must be aware, not only of culturally bounded illnesses, but of the potential impact of culture on all aspects of the experience of illness. In this chapter we review a long tradition of research that illustrates the important role that culture plays in the subjective experience of illness, and we discuss the implications of culture for epidemiology, health services research, and medical practice.
The Development of the Adolescent Nervios Scale: Preliminary Findings
2010, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Specific aspects of religious involvement protect against depressive symptoms among immigrant versus U.S.-born, Hispanic older adults
2024, Aging and Mental Health
Emotional Pathways of Embodied Health Vulnerability: Maternal Health Risk and Emotional Distress among First- and Second-Generation Immigrants on the US-Mexico Border
2020, Ethos
Mental Health Needs of an Emerging Latino Community
2020, Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

The social meanings of nervios: A case study of a central American woman

Abstract

Soc. Sci. Med.

How illness means and how such meanings affect illness behavior

Idioms of distress

Cult. Med. Psychiat.

Idioms of distress

Cult. Med. Psychiat.

The meaning of nervios

Cult. Med. Psychiat.

Culture, illness, and care

Ann. intern. Med.

Toward a meaning-centered analysis of popular illness categories