2016
DOI: 10.1111/maq.12297
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Neurasthenia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and the Medicalization of Worry in a Vietnamese Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract: This article examines two forms of the medicalization of worry in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Biomedical psychiatrists understand patients' symptoms as manifestations of the excessive worry associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Drawing on an ethnopsychology of emotion that reflects increasingly popular models of neoliberal selfhood, these psychiatrists encourage patients to frame psychic distress in terms of private feelings to address the conditions in their li… Show more

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Cited by 19 publications
(17 citation statements)
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“…Furthermore, certain items might be added to a future SSA. In particular, an item assessing the syndrome called ''neurasthenia'' (suy nhuoc thaˆn kinh; also called ''nerve weakness,'' or suy yeˆu thaˆn kinh) might be important to include, given that it was recently demonstrated to be an important syndrome in the Vietnamese context (Tran, 2017). Although we did include items assessing weakness and certain weakness syndromes, we did not include this specific item.…”
Section: Limitations and Directions For Future Researchmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, certain items might be added to a future SSA. In particular, an item assessing the syndrome called ''neurasthenia'' (suy nhuoc thaˆn kinh; also called ''nerve weakness,'' or suy yeˆu thaˆn kinh) might be important to include, given that it was recently demonstrated to be an important syndrome in the Vietnamese context (Tran, 2017). Although we did include items assessing weakness and certain weakness syndromes, we did not include this specific item.…”
Section: Limitations and Directions For Future Researchmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Indeed, age, gender, and class dynamics mediate the extent to which liberal models of emotive selfhood are internalized. For example, doctors and patients are differently positioned to new models of emotion, selfhood, and mental illness (Tran, 2016). Vietnamese patients draw from conflicting medical, political, and moral discourses to define themselves, and psychiatric patients often resist models of an individuated psyche implicit in biomedical diagnoses (Gammeltoft, 2014).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…5 In research conducted at the HCMC Psychiatric Hospital in 2008, most people diagnosed with MDD or GAD identified with neurasthenia (Tran, 2016). In less than a decade, the diagnosis has almost disappeared among outpatients in HCMC.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…While anxiety is properly understood as a fundamental experience among all humans (Jenkins 2004;Beesdo, Knappe, and Pine 2009;Tran 2016), it may when severe involve extreme or disabling conditions. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) calls attention to the need to improve access to mental health services for children since ''…many of the anxiety disorders develop in childhood and tend to persist if not treated'' (American Psychiatric Association 2013).…”
Section: Anxiety As a Fundamental Human Process Attachment And Situmentioning
confidence: 99%