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Problematising depression: young people, mental health and suicidal behaviours

Author

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  • Bennett, Sara
  • Coggan, Carolyn
  • Adams, Peter

Abstract

The published literature provides strong evidence for connections between mental health issues, such as depression, and suicidal behaviours. However, in spite of this, no investigations to date have explored young people's perceptions of the interconnections between depression, and suicidal behaviours. This article presents discussive analyses of discussions of the contributions of depression to their suicidal behaviours of young people in New Zealand. Two dominant discourses of depression emerged: a medicalised discourse, and a moral discourse. The medicalised discourse was accessible to the majority of participants, and constructed depression as a disease. This discourse prioritised the voices of health professionals and suggested that depression was difficult to resist. The moral discourse was an alternative to the medicalised discourse, and constructed young people who experienced depression and suicidal behaviours as failures. Both discourses were informed by a mechanistic cause-and-effect relationship between depression and suicidal behaviours: attempting suicide was seen as an inevitable outcome of experiencing depression, and suicidal behaviours were inevitably undertaken by young people who were depressed. Resistance to either of these dominant discourses was problematic, and was best articulated during discussions of the stigma associated with mental ill-health and depression.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett, Sara & Coggan, Carolyn & Adams, Peter, 2003. "Problematising depression: young people, mental health and suicidal behaviours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 289-299, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:57:y:2003:i:2:p:289-299
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gattuso, Suzy & Fullagar, Simone & Young, Ilena, 2005. "Speaking of women's 'nameless misery': The everyday construction of depression in Australian women's magazines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1640-1648, October.
    2. Roen, Katrina & Scourfield, Jonathan & McDermott, Elizabeth, 2008. "Making sense of suicide: A discourse analysis of young people's talk about suicidal subjecthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2089-2097, December.
    3. Silvia Sara Canetto & Andrew D. Menger-Ogle & Usha Kiran Subba, 2023. "Studying Scripts of Women, Men and Suicide: Qualitative-Method Development and Findings from Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Nurul Ratna Sari, 2017. "The Urgency Of Child Empowerment In Developing A Community-Based Tourism In Kampung Warna-Warni Of East Java Indonesia," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    5. Mohd. Amir Mat Samsudin & Mohamad Hisyam Selamat & Ram Al-Jaffri Saad & Muhammad Syahir Abdul Wahab, 2017. "The Relationship Between Self-Confidence, Self-Remembrance And Sincerity Among Staff Towards Information Systems Outsourcing Success," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    6. Chow Tong Wooi & Lailawati Mohd. Salleh & Ismi Arif Ismail, 2017. "A Preferred Leadership Portrait Of Successful Cross-Cultural Leadership," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    7. Rabia Rasheed & Maria Abdul Rahman & Sulaman Hafeez Siddiqui, 2017. "Sme Access To Finance In Emerging Economies: A Comparative Study Of Pakistan And Malaysia," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    8. White, Jennifer & Morris, Jonathan, 2010. "Precarious spaces: Risk, responsibility and uncertainty in school-based suicide prevention programs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2187-2194, December.
    9. Sahnun Ladan & Norani Binti Nordin & H. M. Belal, 2017. "Influence Of Transformational Leadership On Knowledge Hiding: Mediating Role Of Organizational Psychological Ownership: A Proposed Framework," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    10. Alhassan Haladu & Basariah Bt. Salim, 2017. "The Influence Of Environmental Supervisory Agencies On Environmental Information Disclosure In Nigeria," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    11. Wan Nur Syuhada Wan Ismail & Shamsul Huda Abd Rani, 2017. "The Factors That Influence Students’ Views On Self-Employment Among Ikbn Students," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    12. Eliott, Jaklin A. & Olver, Ian N., 2008. "Dying cancer patients talk about euthanasia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 647-656, August.

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