Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Oct;37(7):538-552.
doi: 10.1080/01459740.2018.1424151. Epub 2018 Mar 20.

Negotiating the Interpretation of Depression Shared Among Kin

Claire Snell-Rood  1 , Richard Merkel  2 , Nancy Schoenberg  3
Affiliations

Negotiating the Interpretation of Depression Shared Among Kin

Claire Snell-Rood et al. Med Anthropol. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Kinship processes contribute to the experience and interpretation of depression-generating empathy as well as silencing. We explore intersubjective experiences of depression among kin with the aim of understanding how depression can reveal kinship expectations and evolving concepts of distress. In interviews with 28 low-income rural Appalachian women about their depression, participants articulated depression as a social process that neither starts nor ends in themselves. Yet kinship obligations to recognize family members' depression limited women's ability to admit distress, let alone request care. The intersubjective experience of depression among kin can challenge the individual expression of distress.

Keywords: Appalachia; depression; gender; intersubjective; kinship; rural.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Achenbach J and Keating D, 2016. A new divide in American death. The Washington Post, April 10, 2016.
    1. Anglin MK, 2002. Lessons from Appalachia in the 20th century: Poverty, power and the “grassroots”. American Anthropologist 104(2):565–582.
    1. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2013. Kentucky Area Development District (ADD) Profiles. Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Public Health.
    1. Brown RA, 2010. Crystal methamphetamine use among American Indian and White youth in Appalachia: Social context, masculinity, and desistance. Addiction Research & Theory 18(3):250–269. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Browning D, Andrews C, and Niemczura C, 2000. Cultural influences on care seeking by depressed women in rural Appalachia. The American Journal for Nurse Practitioners (May):24–32.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources