Gendered Portraits of Depression in Swedish Newspapers

Carita Bengs · Ulla Danielsson · Arja Lehti · Anne Hammarström

50 citations0/0 files storedQualitative Health Research

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Gender Roles and Identity Studies Mental Health Treatment and Access Gender, Health, and Social Inequality

Abstract

Mass media are influential mediators of information, knowledge, and narratives of health and illness. In this article, we report on an examination of personal accounts of illness as presented in three Swedish newspapers, focusing on the gendered representation of laypersons' experiences of depression. A database search identified all articles mentioning depression during the year 2002. Twenty six articles focusing on personal experiences of depression were then subjected to a qualitative content analysis. We identified four themes: displaying a successful facade, experiencing a cracking facade, losing and regaining control, and explaining the illness. We found both similarities and differences with regard to gendered experiences. The mediated accounts of depression both upheld and challenged traditional gender stereotypes. The women's stories were more detailed, relational, emotionally oriented, and embodied. The portrayal of men was less emotional and expressive, and described a more dramatic onset of depression, reflecting hegemonic patterns of masculinity.

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References

2003Metaphors We Live By 2003Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness 2020Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age 2005Hegemonic Masculinity 1992Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age 2000Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health 2005‘It's caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still operate’: men's accounts of masculinity and help seeking 2005Men's accounts of depression: Reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity?

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2009Struck by lightning or slowly suffocating – gendered trajectories into depression 2009Gaps Between Patients, Media, and Academic Medicine in Discourses on Gender and Depression: A Metasynthesis 2013Surviving men’s depression: Women partners’ perspectives 2012The Gender(s) in the Room

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