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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 538-552 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 3 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis.
Funding
This study was supported by a pilot grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science [grant number NIH UL1TR000117] and write-up of the article was supported by BIRCWH [grant number K12 DA035150] from the Office of Women’s Health Research and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We express our deep appreciation first and foremost to the women who took part in this study, who generously shared their deeply personal experiences. None of this work would have been possible without the expertise and dedication of research coordinator Keisha Hudson, collaborator Frances Feltner, and the entire talented team at the Center of Excellence in Rural Health. We are grateful for the intensive feedback provided by the guest editors for this special issue, Tine M. Gammeltoft and Pauline Oosterhoof, as well as the editor Lenore Manderson, and three anonymous reviewers. Earlier drafts benefited from the perspectives of Ted Lowe and Claudia Strauss. The University of Kentucky Institutional Review Board approved this study. This study was supported by a pilot grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science [grant number NIH UL1TR000117] and write-up of the article was supported by BIRCWH [grant number K12 DA035150] from the Office of Women’s Health Research and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| NIDA BIRCWH | K12 DA035150 |
| National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health | |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | UL1TR000117 |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| Author National Institute on Drug Abuse DA031791 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse DA006634 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA026117 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA028162 Elizabeth G Pitts National Institute of General Medical Sciences GM102773 Elizabeth G Pitts Peter McManus Charitable Trust Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse | |
| National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | UL1TR001998 |
| National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | |
| University of Kentucky, Center for Clinical and Translational Science | NIH UL1TR000117 |
| University of Kentucky, Center for Clinical and Translational Science |
Keywords
- Appalachia
- depression
- gender
- intersubjective
- kinship
- rural
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Anthropology