SynthesisCulture, medicine and psychiatry2021
"Thinking Too Much": A Systematic Review of the Idiom of Distress in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Synthesis in Culture, medicine and psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Amplifying Coaches' voices from the implementation of the MindSKILLZ youth mental health program in Kenya: A critical discourse analysis.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Trauma symptoms and their correlates among Zimbabwean adolescents: Baseline results from a cluster randomized controlled trial.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Experiences and impact of chronic pain in South Africans living in a rural area: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Cognitive interviewing of the PHQ-A for depression screening among adolescents living with and without HIV in Malawi.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Digital activism in Kenya: moving from the digital center to the digital periphery of Long Covid experience.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- Article
- Understanding depression and the PHQ-9 items among people living with HIV: A multiple methods qualitative study in Yaoundé, Cameroon.SSM. Mental health · 2024Article
- Psychological distress among family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in Uganda.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Rural Friendship Bench: A qualitative study in Zaka district, Zimbabwe.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- A Heart for the Care: Affect, Kin, and Care Work in a Zambian Hospital.Medical anthropology quarterly · 2024Article
- Psychosocial and mental health challenges facing perinatally HIV-infected adolescents along the Kenyan coast: a qualitative inquiry using the socioecological model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Formative research to inform the future design of a multicomponent fatherhood intervention to improve early child development in Mwanza, Tanzania.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Examination of the Factor Structure of Psychopathology in a Mozambican Sample.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2023Article
- Ambiguous loss of home: Syrian refugees and the process of losing and remaking home.Wellbeing, space and society · 2023Article
- Editorial: Equality, diversity and inclusive research for diverse rare disease communities.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Health needs and perception of health care quality among Asylum Seekers and Refugees in an Italian local health authority: A qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Psychological well-being, mental distress, metabolic syndrome, and associated factors among people living in a refugee camp in Greece: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- A global mental health opportunity: How can cultural concepts of distress broaden the construct of immobility?Global environmental change : human and policy dimensions · 2022Review
- Living a frozen life: a qualitative study on asylum seekers' experiences and care practices at accommodation centers in Sweden.Conflict and health · 2022Article
- Recognizing and Breaking the Cycle of Trauma and Violence Among Resettled Refugees.Current trauma reports · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Idioms of distress have been employed in psychological anthropology and global mental health to solicit localized understandings of suffering. The idiom "thinking too much" is employed in cultural settings worldwide to express feelings of emotional and cognitive disquiet with psychological, physical, and social consequences on people's well-being and daily functioning. This systematic review investigates how, where, and among whom the idiom "thinking too much" within varied Sub-Saharan African contexts was investigated. We reviewed eight databases and identified 60 articles, chapters, and books discussing "thinking too much" across Sub-Saharan Africa. Across 18 Sub-Saharan African countries, literature on "thinking too much" focused on particular sub-populations, including clinical populations, including people living with HIV or non-communicable diseases, and women experiencing perinatal or postnatal depression; health workers and caregivers; and non-clinical populations, including refugees and conflict-affected communities, as well as community samples with and without depression. "Thinking too much" reflected a broad range of personal, familial, and professional concerns that lead someone to be consumed with "too many thoughts." This research demonstrates that "thinking too much" is a useful idiom for understanding rumination and psychiatric distress while providing unique insights within cultural contexts that should not be overlooked when applied in clinical settings.
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