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Original Study
| Published: September 27, 2024
The Intersection of Autonomy and Sociotropy: The Quest of Life in Women with Depression
Student, Msc Clinical Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India Google Scholar More about the auther
Professor and Supervisor, Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India Google Scholar More about the auther
DIP: 18.01.262.20241203
DOI: 10.25215/1203.262
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to understand clinical depression in a collectivistic context such as India, with preexisting hierarchies of gender and an emphasis on relational identity. It aimed to extend the application of Beck’s Sociotropy-Autonomy Model as an etiological explanation for depression. Researchers used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyze transcribed semi-structured interviews with 11 participants of Indian nationality, who had a prior diagnosis of one or more depressive disorders. The results generated themes such as womanhood and the barter of autonomy, gifts and burdens of perception, weight of self-advocacy, living as a contrarian in society, healing powers of connection and relational autonomy, for both causes and resolution of depressive state. The themes integrated into a bidirectional web highlighting the relationship between Sociotropy, Autonomy, Gender, and Depression. In addition, the study highlighted present gaps in conceptualising depression from a social lens and can add to the preexisting explanatory models of depression.
Keywords
Indian, Sociotropy-Autonomy, Beck, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Gender, Depression
This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2024, Audhkhasi, A. & Gopal, B.
Received: June 25, 2024; Revision Received: September 23, 2024; Accepted: September 27, 2024
Article Overview
ISSN 2348-5396
ISSN 2349-3429
18.01.262.20241203
10.25215/1203.262
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Published in Volume 12, Issue 3, July-September, 2024