ABSTRACT

Women are particularly vulnerable to depression. Understanding Depression provides an in-depth critical examination of mainstream approaches to understanding and treating depression from a feminist perspective. Janet Stoppard argues that current approaches give only partial accounts of womens' experiences of depression and concludes that a better understanding will only be achieved when womens' experiences and lived realities are considered in relation to the material and social conditions in which their everyday lives are embedded. The impact of this change in approach for modes of treatment are discussed and solutions are suggested.
Understanding Depression offers new insights into the problem and its treatment. It will prove useful to those with an interest in depression and gender as well as mental health practitioners.

part |40 pages

Introduction

chapter |21 pages

Depression

A gendered problem

chapter |17 pages

What Is Depression?

Definitional debates

part |69 pages

Explaining Depression in Women

chapter |15 pages

Depression and Women's Psychology

Susceptibility or specificity?

chapter |16 pages

Social Models of Depression

Sources of adversity and stress in women's lives

chapter |20 pages

Women's Bodies, Women's Lives and Depression

Exploring material—discursive approaches

part |71 pages

Embodied Lives

chapter |24 pages

Depression in Adolescence

Negotiating identities in a girl-poisoning culture 1

chapter |24 pages

Women's Lives and Depression

Marriage and motherhood

chapter |21 pages

Women and Aging

Depression in midlife and old age

part |33 pages

Implications for Theory and Practise

chapter |20 pages

Women Overcoming Depression

Coping, treatment and politics