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Depression: the ambivalence of diagnosis

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 20:57 authored by Renata Kokanovic, Gillian Bendelow, Brigid Philip
The diagnosis of depression in the clinical context is extremely controversial and is subject to criticism of over-medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation. Depression can be conceptualised across the entire spectrum of lay and medical belief, from the ‘normal’ highs and lows of the human condition to its inclusion in the dominant Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classificatory system, as a form of serious mental illness. In this context, a better understanding of how people describe, experience, negotiate and participate in the process of diagnosis is needed. This article draws on qualitative interviews to explore lay accounts of being diagnosed with depression. The findings reveal that lay accounts of depression vacillate in and out of the medicalised discourse of depression, highlighting the limitations of the biomedical approach to diagnosis and treatment

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Sociology of Health and Illness

ISSN

0141-9889

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Issue

3

Volume

35

Page range

377-390

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Notes

Early View. To revisit to add pub detail. TH 31/01/13

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2013-01-31

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2013-02-05

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