These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Medical and popular traditions of nerves.
    Author: Davis DL, Whitten RG.
    Journal: Soc Sci Med; 1988; 26(12):1209-21. PubMed ID: 3061017.
    Abstract:
    We question the assumption that the common complaint of nerves in small Newfoundland fishing villages is a legacy of the late 19th century syndrome called weak nerves or neurasthenia, and instead trace the development of a Western medical science of nerves from the early 1700s to the present. Native descriptions of the physical, especially tonic, nature of nerves and of the moral strength needed to fight nerves are correlated with 18th century medical notions. Less resemblance exists between Newfoundland nerves and concepts of neurasthenia in the late 19th century. Moreover, the contemporary descriptions of nerves as a generalized response to stress and anxiety do not account for the culture-specific aspects of nerves which shape Newfoundland regional identity and shed light on their present day sociocultural adaptations.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]