Women's experiences of treatment of depression: Medicalization or empowerment?

Author(s): Stoppard, J. M.

Journal/Book: Can Psychol Psychol Can. 1999; 40: 151 Slater St, Ste 205, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H3, Canada. Canadian Psychol Assoc. 112-128.

Abstract: An interview study was conducted in which women's experiences of diagnosis and treatment for depression were explored. Nine women who had been diagnosed by a physician participated in the study. Topics explored in the interview included how women came to be diagnosed as depressed, how treatment was experienced, how they understood the causes of their depression, and how being diagnosed had affected their view of themselves and their futures. Analysis involved a thematic approach guided by the topics addressed in the interview. The women's accounts also were analyzed with respect to the themes of medicalization and empowerment. All of the participants gave medicalized accounts of their depressive experiences, which were characterized by biomedical explanations and identification of anti-depressant drugs as beneficial in alleviating their distress. Although most women had made changes in their lives in conjunction with treatment, the changes made were likely to have disempowering consequences. Based on this analysis of the women's accounts, it was concluded that a medicalized understanding and treatment of women's depressive experiences cannot readily co-exist with personal empowerment. Suggestions are made for developing strategies for treatment of women's depressive experiences that offer the benefits of medicalization without precluding the possibility of personal empowerment.

Note: Article Gammell DJ, Univ New Brunswick, Dept Psychol, Bag Serv 45444, Fredericton, NB E3B 6E4, CANADA

Keyword(s): SEX-DIFFERENCES; FEMINIST; THERAPY; SELF

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