ABSTRACT
In the South Indian state of Kerala, the number of people suffering from depression is reported in the media as significantly above the national average. If cases of "masked depression" are taken into account in addition to instances of depression as laid out in the International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (ICD-10), the number of people suffering from depression in the state rises to between 30 and 35 per cent of the total population. In Kerala, women are said to be predestined to suffer, at least when considering Malayalam sayings such as "Women should suffer everything like the earth". This chapter elucidates the causes for the presumed rise of depression as described by mental health experts, religious practitioners, laypeople and the media. It also provides an introduction to the ethnographic context of Kerala through the lens of crisis and social critique in a historical moment of accelerated social transformation.
