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Nervios is a term used in Latin American countries and among Latinos living in the United States to describe a culturally-bound syndrome characterized by a constant state of stress. Culture-bound syndromes, commonly called folk illnesses, are mental illnesses or symptoms that appear exclusively within specific cultures or in certain countries. This culturally-bound syndrome may be a result of hardships in life or may refer to an overall predisposition to nerves.[1] Studies have associated nervios with panic disorder in Puerto Rico, much like constant nerves and stress have been linked to anxiety in the United States. Nervios is often used with another Latin-American cultural-bound syndrome called susto (fright) or ataque de nervios (attack of nerves). Nervios and susto are two entirely separate conditions only used together because they are both relevant to the same regions.[2] Nervios should be studied more by psychologists and medical professionals in order to gain the knowledge necessary to understand any culture-bound syndrome.
Symptoms and Causes
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Nervios is commonly shown in physical distress, in the form of headaches, chronic stomach pain or aches, dizzy spells, excessive sweating, body aches, shaking, and trouble sleeping. Nervios' symptoms of emotional distress often include irritability, fearfulness, anxiety, and depression.[3] In all cultural instances of nervios, the word describes a set of the symptoms above, leading to a "state of nervios" and also a few of the symptoms.
Although there is not one particular cause of nervios, studies show that excessive drinking, not eating a balanced diet, prolonged drug usage, social stress, excessive worrying, susto, and witnessing a shocking event (life trauma) can be contributing factors in developing nervios.
Treatments
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Nervios is not commonly recognized and treated by physicians. It is treated by folk and alternative healers.[4] Home remedies for nervios are commonly passed down through generations in a Latin American family and may consist of herbs, teas, relaxation exercises, or bed rest. Alternative healers may preform rituals of healing and spiritual guidance. Nervios may also be treated within the familial unit instead of seeking outside assistance from mental health or health care professionals, though this could be due to the medical communities in such countries as Guatemala, Mexico, and Puerto Rico not recognizing nervios as a true mental illness.
Culture-Specific Nervios
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Mexican and Guatemalan cultures share a similar definition and range of symptoms. According to a study conducted by Finkler in 1991, Mexican and Guatemalan women experience nervios more often than men due to their social status as unequal to their male counterparts. Among Mexican and Mexican-Americans nervios was the third most identified ailment, next to stomach ache and coughing.[5]
Mexican, Guatemalan, Mexican-American, and Puerto Rican cultures all shared the idea that nervios is found predominately in “sensitive” people that were adults or older. They also stated that nervios was not a disorder men typically had to deal with. Nervios sufferers tended to be of “weak character with low resistance”.[6]
In all of these cultures, women tend to suggest home remedies for the treatment of nervios (such as herbal teas or relaxation techniques), while men did not. Puerto Ricans overall suggested seeking the guidance of a priest in the face of nervios symptoms. In Puerto Rican culture, nervios is viewed as a lifelong disorder that most often appears early in childhood or early in life and remains a constant struggle throughout a person's life.[7]
In the general population of Mexico, nervios has a prevalence of 15.5%. The average age that nervios occurs in women is 24.9 years and men have an average onset age of 21.9 years. Women with symptoms of nervios tend to be less educated and were married with more children. On the other hand, men who report symptoms of nervios tend to be unmarried, younger, and more educated.[8]
See Also
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References:
- ^ American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
- ^ Weller S. C., Baer R. D., Garcia de Alba Garcia J., Salcedo Rocha A. L. (2008). Susto and nervios: Expressions for stress and depression, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol. 32, 406-420.
- ^ Jackson, Yo. (2006). Culture-bound syndromes: nervios. Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, 2006. Sage Publications, Inc., 141.
- ^ Nations, M. K., Camino L. A., & Walker, F. B. (1988). ‘Nerves’: Folk idiom for anxiety and depression? Social Science & Medicine, 26, 1245-1259.
- ^ Trotter, R. (1982). Susto: the context of community morbidity patterns. Ethnology, 21, 215-226.
- ^ Baer, R. D., Weller, S. C., Garcia de Alba, J., Glazer, M., Trotter, R., Pachter, L., & Klein, R. E. (2003). A cross-cultural approach to the study of the folk illness nervios. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 27, 315-337.
- ^ Guarnaccia, P. J., Lewis-Fernandez, R., & Marano, M. R. (2003). Toward a Puerto-Rican popular nosology: nervios and ataque de nervios. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 27, 339-366.
- ^ Salgado de Snyder, V. N., Diaz-Perez, M. J., & Ojeda, V. D. (2000). The prevalence of nervios and associated symptomatology among inhabitants of Mexican rural communities. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 24, 453-470.