It is widely assumed that the
social and economic conditions of poverty can be linked to common mental
disorders in low-, middle- and high-income countries. Despite the considerable
increase in quantitative studies investigating the link between poverty and
mental health, the nature of the connection between poverty and emotional
well-being/distress is still not fully comprehended.
In this qualitative study,
exploring how one group of Coloured South African women, diagnosed with
depression and residing in a semi-rural low-income South African community,
subjectively understand and experience their emotional distress, data was
collected by means of in-depth semi-structured interviews and social
constructionist grounded theory was used to analyse the data.
We will attempt
to show
- that the depressed women in this group of respondents frequently refer to the emotional distress caused by hungry children and
- that the emotional distress described by the respondents included emotions typically associated with depression (such as sadness, hopelessness and guilt), but also included emotions not necessarily associated with depression (such as anxiety, anger and anomie).
This shame seemed, in turn, to lead to anger and/or anomie,
informing acting out behaviours ranging from verbal and physical aggression to
passive withdrawal.
A vicious cycle of hunger, sadness and anxiety, shame,
anger and anomie, aggression and withdrawal, negative judgement, and more
shame, are thus maintained. As such, the unbearable rebukes of hungry children
can be thought of as evoking a kind of "madness" in low-income
mothers.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/0pOSg4
- 1Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa. lkrug@sun.ac.za.
- 2Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, 1 Whitnall Street, Grahamstown, 6139, South Africa. lourens.marleen@gmail.com.
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