ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Johns, a mental health educator's interview transcript, analysing both the content of his narrative and the pragmatic and rhetorical context in which it was produced. There is an investigation that how people who have been medically diagnosed with depression negotiate disclosure decisions both within and beyond the medical encounter, including to doctors, friends, family members and colleagues. Studies of lay understandings of emotions reveal a widespread belief that emotional disclosures to supportive friends and family members help people to deal with pain and adversity, maintain emotional health, and build strong personal relationships. Yet many people also disclose their emotional distress to medical practitioners, and on the basis of these disclosures, many are diagnosed with depression and/or prescribed antidepressant medication. In Australia, where the authors of the chapter reside, most prescriptions for mental-health related illnesses are for antidepressants, with approximately 13 million scripts written each year, a significant number in a country of roughly 22.63 million people.
