Qualitative cross-sectional study of the perceived causes of depression in South Asian origin women in Toronto: Table 1

Abstract

ObjectiveTo explore how South Asian origin women in Toronto, Canada, understand and explain the causes of their depression.DesignCross-sectional in-depth qualitative interviews.SettingOutpatient service in Toronto, Ontario.ParticipantsTen women with symptoms of depression aged between 22 and 65 years of age. Seven were from India, two from Sri Lanka and one from Pakistan. Four were Muslim, three Hindu and three Catholic. Two participants had university degrees, one a high school diploma and seven had completed less than a high school education. Eight were married, one was unmarried and one a widow.ResultsThree main factors emerged from the participant narratives as the causes of depression: family and relationships, culture and migration and socioeconomic. The majority of the participants identified domestic abuse, marital problems and interpersonal problems in the family as the cause of their depression. Culture and migration and socioeconomic factors were considered contributory. None of our study participants reported spiritual, supernatural or religious factors as causes of depression.ConclusionA personal–social–cultural model emerged as the aetiological paradigm for depression. Given the perceived causation, psycho-social treatment methods may be more acceptable for South Asian origin women.

Mental Health and Stress Among South Asians

“…42–45 In one Canadian study, a group of SA women with depression were interviewed to assess the explanatory models they used to understand their illness. 43 Participants largely felt that their depression was an outcome of personal, family, cultural, and social circumstances. 43 Stresses in familial relationships, aging, isolation, migration, stigma, economic difficulties, and discrimination were all cited as reasons for depression.…”

“…43 Participants largely felt that their depression was an outcome of personal, family, cultural, and social circumstances. 43 Stresses in familial relationships, aging, isolation, migration, stigma, economic difficulties, and discrimination were all cited as reasons for depression. 43 …”

“…43 Stresses in familial relationships, aging, isolation, migration, stigma, economic difficulties, and discrimination were all cited as reasons for depression. 43 …”

Illness beliefs of Chinese American immigrants with major depressive disorder in a primary care setting

“…Prior research in this area has consistently found that depressed patients of East Asian and South Asian cultural origin tend to emphasize somatic rather than psychological symptoms and favor interpersonal or contextual rather than biological explanations for their distress, as compared with their Western counterparts (Ekanayake et al, 2012; Karasz, 2005; Karasz et al, 2007; Kleinman, 1977; Yeung and Kam, 2005). Karasz has generalized this finding further to state that “non-Western, nonwhite, and non-middle-class individuals suffering from depression are more likely to exhibit somatic disturbances in medical settings than are Western middle class individuals” (Karasz et al, 2007).…”

Childhood depression in family narratives

“…Thus, the interpretive process of a narrative gains its status of enunciation, particularly in what is being said in the interface of pain and psychological suffering. [13] The enunciation of the disease, therefore, arises from the communicative movement between what is said and what is interdict of childhood depression in family narratives. [14] In this context, the said assumes own verbalized sentence, in other words, the statement of the complaint.…”