Conceptions of schizophrenia as a problem of nerves: A cross-cultural comparison of Mexican-Americans and Anglo-Americans

This paper explores indigenous conceptions of psychosis within family settings. The cultural categories nervios and 'nerves', as applied by Mexican-American and Anglo-American relatives to family members diagnosed with schizophrenia, are examined. While Mexican-Americans tended to consider nervios an appropriate interpretation of the problem, Anglo-Americans explicitly dismissed the parallel English term 'nerves'. Anglo-American relatives were likely to consider the problem as 'mental' in nature, often with specific reference to psychiatric diagnostic labels such as 'schizophrenia'. Although variations in conceptions appear related to both ethnicity and socioeconomic status, significant cultural differences were observed independent of socioeconomic status. These results raise questions concerning contemporary anthropological views that psychosis is conceptualized in substantially similar ways cross-culturally, and underscore the need for more contextualized understanding of the meaning and application of indigenous concepts of mental disorder. The paper concludes with a discussion of psychocultural meanings associated with ethnopsychiatric labels for schizophrenia and their importance for the social and moral status of patients and their kin.