Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T20:56:07.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life Events and Depression in a Kenyan Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Vadher  and
D. M. Ndetei
A. Vadher
Affiliation:
358 Wickham Lane, Abbey Wood, London SE2 0NZ
D. M. Ndetei*
Affiliation:
Bexley Hospital, Old Bexley Lane, Bexley, Kent DA5 2BW
*
∗Present address for correspondence: Lecturer in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Kenyatta National Hospital, University of Nairobi, PO Box 30588, Nairobi, Kenya.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Thirty Kenyan patients of black African origin undergoing treatment for clinical depression in Nairobi, and 40 matched non-psychiatrically disturbed controls in the community were studied for life events using the Brown-Harris model. It was found that the depressed group had significantly more life events (P <0.001 with Yates correction for continuity) in the twelve months preceding the onset of their depression than the controls in the same period. These results are similar to those obtained by several workers in Western settings. Their implication for the practice of psychiatry in an African context is examined, and some myths about psychiatry in Africa re-examined.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 2 , August 1981 , pp. 134 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akiskal, H. S. & McKinney, W. T. (1975) Overview of recent research in depression: an integration of ten conceptual models into a comprehensive clinical frame. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 285—305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bebbington, P. (1980) Causal models and logical inference in epidemiological psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 317–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Binitie, A. (1975) A factor analytical study of depression across cultures (African and European). British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 559–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978a) Social Origins of Depression. A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978b) Social origins of depression: a reply. Psychological Medicine, 8, 577–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1979) The sin of subjectivism: a reply to Shapiro. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 605–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G., Harris, T. & Copeland, J. R. (1977) Depression and loss. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 1—18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G., Sklair, F., Harris, T. O. & Birley, J. L. T. (1973) Life events and psychiatric disorders. Part 1: Some methodological issues. Psychological Medicine, 33, 73—87.Google Scholar
Buchan, T. (1969) Depression in African patients. South African Medical Journal, 43, 1055–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Carothers, J. C. (1947) A study of mental derangement in Africans, and an attempt to explain its peculiarities, more especially in relation to the African attitude to life. Journal of Mental Science, 93, 548–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P. (1975) Sociocultural and social-psychological factors in the genesis of mental disorder. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 16, 365–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harré, R., Tennant, N., Thompson, I., Cooke, D., Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1980) Discussion: causes and logic in epidemiological psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 578–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, D. (1968) Depression: Disease, reaction, or posture? American Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 445–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leff, J. (1980) Overseas trainees in psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 288–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lopez-Ibor, J. J. (1972) Masked depression and depressive equivalents. In Depressive Illness, Diagnosis, Assessment and Treatment (ed. Kielholz, P.). Basle: S. Karger.Google Scholar
Ndetei, D. M. (1975) Medical services and family planning. In Some Thoughts on Population (ed. Omboga, P. N.). Nairobi: Afropress Ltd.Google Scholar
Ndetei, D. M. (1980a) Psychiatry in Kenya: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. An overview. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 60, 201–11.Google Scholar
Ndetei, D. M. (1980b) The training needs of psychiatrists intending to work in developing countries. Proceedings of the World Psychiatric Association (European section): Symposium on Training and Education in Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Ndetei, D. M. & Muhangi, J. (1979) The prevalence and clinical presentation of psychiatric illness in a rural setting in Kenya. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 269–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myers, J. K., Diendelt, M. N., Klerman, G. L., Lindenthal, J. J. & Pepper, M. P. (1969) Life events and depression: a controlled study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 753–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rwegellera, G. G. & Mambwe, C. C. (1977) Diagnostic classification of first-ever admissions to Chainama Hills Hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 573–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapiro, M. B. (1979) The social origins of depression by George W. Brown and Tirril Harris: its methodological philosophy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 597—603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennant, C. & Bebbington, P. (1978) The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and his colleagues. Psychological Medicine, 8, 565–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Description and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms: An Instruction Manual for the PSE and CATEGO System. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.