Notes on nervios: a disorder of menopause.
The condition of nerves among women in the small Peruvian town of Puente Piedre is described. Both nervios (a symptom) and Nervios (a disorder) describe a woman's difficulty with nerves. In Puente Piedre, the identification of an anxiety condition among women depends only on the women's age. Younger women with anxiety symptoms are diagnosed as nervios, a temporary condition ascribed to a single episode of high blood pressure. Menopausal women with similar symptoms, on the other hand, are thought to have a specific disorder, Nervios. In Puente Piedre, Nervios clearly is a folk illness limited to women of menopausal age.
Barnett
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D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008593:Menopause / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010568:Peru