Subjectivity is an essential part of psychiatry, often forgotten in daily clinical work, despite the remarkable demonstrations done by the German school of phenomenology in the 20th century concerning this aspect of our specialty.

As a matter of fact perception of internal and external time, social space, relationship to pleasure and religion are essentially linked to culture. One of the most important determinants of culture is economy, which is itself largely determined by geography and history of the region.

The author will present the intertwine existing between these variables, and its impact on the clinical picture and the subjective interpretation of the patient, taking depression as a model for this theoretical construction.