Nevra in a Greek village: idiom, metaphor, symptom, or disorder?

The folk model for nevra (nerves) in Methana, Greece, is discussed in terms of the contradiction between the ideal of solidarity, central to the local family ideology, and the reality of interpersonal conflict in daily life. Contradictions in values resulting from rapid socioeconomic change are also considered. Nevra, a broad, ambiguous, negotiated concept, expresses a wide range of symptoms and serves as a culturally condoned medium for expression of otherwise unacceptable emotions. The notion of nevra provides a metaphor for social disorder such as interpersonal conflict between close kinfolk and value conflicts between generations. Case studies of social interaction demonstrate the relationship of nevra to various kinds of social disorder as well as to what Western psychiatry labels emotional disorders. Nevra is also related to other idioms of distress: the evil eye, possession by the devil, excessive drinking, and pilgrimages to religious shrines.