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A Study of the Interaction Between Depressed Patients and Their Spouses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Mary Hinchliffe
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Department of Mental Health, 39/41 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol
Douglas Hooper
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Department of Mental Health, 39/41 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol
F. John Roberts
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Department of Mental Health, 39/41 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol
Pamela W. Vaughan
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Department of Mental Health, 39/41 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol

Extract

This paper reports the initial analysis of a series of observations of a number of depressed patients communicating with their spouses and with a third party. This is part of a larger study which arose out of our dissatisfaction with the traditional ways of thinking about depressed patients. By and large there is general agreement about the people who are called ‘depressed’; there are constellations of symptoms and signs which can be evaluated by using one of the many rating scales for depression which have a degree of reliability and consistency. However, we feel that most of the thinking which underlies these efforts is based on presuppositions which would place ‘the depression’ within the patient, that is to say that there is something wrong within the patient which causes the symptoms and gives rise to the signs. These views are reductionist in character and we have by contrast attempted to reexamine certain aspects of depression using non-reductionist ideas.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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