'Nerves': Folk idiom for anxiety and depression?

Marilyn K. Nations, Linda A. Camino and Frederic B. Walker

Social Science & Medicine, 1988, vol. 26, issue 12, 1245-1259

Abstract: This study suggests that 'nerves' as presented in a primary care clinic is a lay idiom for emotional distress and documents a relationship between the folk ailment 'nerves' and anxiety and depression. One hundred and forty-nine patients at a Virginia clinic were studied, 47 with 'nerves', and 102 controls. Testing with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) showed 'nerves' patients to be more anxious and depressed than controls. 'Nerves' patients had a mean GHQ score of 13.0 compared to 5.8 for controls (P

Keywords: nerves; anxiety; and; depression; ethnomedicine; popular; healers; culturally-appropriate; primary; health; care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1988
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