Weaver Lesley Jo
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Box 870210, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2017 Mar;41(1):35-55. doi: 10.1007/s11013-016-9516-5.
The existing literature on Indian ethnopsychology has long asserted that somatization is a key aspect of experiences of distress. The study of idioms of distress arose out of work done in India (Nichter in Cult Med Psychiatry 5(4):379-408, 1981), but ironically, little subsequent work has systematically explored idioms of distress in this part of the world. This ethnographic study focused on the term tension (tenśan) and its relation to a cultural syndrome among women in urban North India. This syndrome appears to involve rapid-onset anger, irritation, rumination, and sleeplessness as key symptoms. It is often linked to specific circumstances such as domestic conflict and is associated with the stresses of modern urban life. People who report more symptoms of tension had consistently higher scores on the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 for depression and anxiety. In this cultural context where psychiatric care is highly stigmatized, the language of tension can aid providers of mental healthcare (many of whom, in India, are not psychiatrists or psychologists) to identify and communicate effectively with potential patients whose mental healthcare needs might otherwise go unaddressed.
关于印度民族心理学的现有文献长期以来一直断言，躯体化是痛苦体验的一个关键方面。对痛苦习语的研究源于在印度开展的工作（尼奇特，《文化医学与精神病学》5(4):379 - 408，1981年），但具有讽刺意味的是，此后很少有研究系统地探讨世界这一地区的痛苦习语。这项民族志研究聚焦于“紧张”（tenśan）一词及其与印度北部城市女性中的一种文化综合征的关系。这种综合征似乎以快速发作的愤怒、易怒、反复思考和失眠为关键症状。它常与诸如家庭冲突等特定情况相关联，并与现代城市生活的压力有关。报告有更多紧张症状的人在霍普金斯症状清单 - 25的抑郁和焦虑评分上一直较高。在这种精神科护理被高度污名化的文化背景下，“紧张”这种表述有助于精神卫生保健提供者（在印度，其中许多人不是精神科医生或心理学家）识别有潜在精神卫生保健需求的患者，并与他们进行有效沟通，否则这些需求可能得不到满足。
