Nerves, worriation, and black women: A community study in the American south

The experience of nerves among women in a low‐income Black neighborhood was examined. Research conducted in the neighborhood revealed nerves as a formal classification of folk illness linked with life stress, yet in‐depth interviews with a purposeful sample of 24 residents showed that a greater manifestation of nerves among women contributes to tendencies among family members to ignore the severity of its symptoms and to equate experiences of nerves with life conditions deemed inevitable for women. Lack of support for nerves among female sufferers was also evident among friends and physicians.

These findings are analyzed against a background of gender‐specific concepts of nerves and “worriation”; operating in the neighborhood. Residents aver that women's “naturally”; weaker constitutions and a moral imperative to worry places them at greater risk for nerves. Implications for clinical care of low‐income Black women with nerves are discussed, and specific recommendations for culturally appropriate interventions are outlined.