An Afrocentric exploration of South African cultural-religious narratives of depression
- Authors: Conway-Cleaves, Matthew
- Date: 2022-12
- Subjects: Depression, Mental , Psychology and religion , Affect (Psychology) -- Religious aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26962 , vital:66206
- Description: The perceptions of causes of depression are diverse, formulated from many different factors such as personal experiences, education, generational and cultural influences, and religious beliefs. While there is a large body of literature on both depression and religion and culture, there is a limited amount available that synthesizes the findings of multiple different studies, finding key common themes. Therefore, this review aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of how religious and cultural narratives describe and influence depression. As a result, a meta-ethnography was carried out to synthesise existing literature on cultural-religious narratives of depression within a South African context. Five published journal articles were sampled for translation and synthesis. From this process, three key themes were developed, namely Conflictual Coexistence, Observation-Based Discernment, and Status or Stigma. The result is a lens that is formed through a mixture of traditional cultural religious traditions and beliefs interconnected with contemporary ways of understanding and being. This framework for diagnosing and treating a mental illness is heavily reliant on observable symptoms. As a result, status or stigma can be attached to multiple aspects of the situation surrounding an individual with or suspected of having a mental illness. Stigmatisation can be noted to form a cycle that becomes inclusive of prognosis, finance/employment and not being able to fulfil culturally held expectations. As a result, future research, and therapeutic intervention of this mental disorder within this demographic will be better informed. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-12
- Authors: Conway-Cleaves, Matthew
- Date: 2022-12
- Subjects: Depression, Mental , Psychology and religion , Affect (Psychology) -- Religious aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26962 , vital:66206
- Description: The perceptions of causes of depression are diverse, formulated from many different factors such as personal experiences, education, generational and cultural influences, and religious beliefs. While there is a large body of literature on both depression and religion and culture, there is a limited amount available that synthesizes the findings of multiple different studies, finding key common themes. Therefore, this review aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of how religious and cultural narratives describe and influence depression. As a result, a meta-ethnography was carried out to synthesise existing literature on cultural-religious narratives of depression within a South African context. Five published journal articles were sampled for translation and synthesis. From this process, three key themes were developed, namely Conflictual Coexistence, Observation-Based Discernment, and Status or Stigma. The result is a lens that is formed through a mixture of traditional cultural religious traditions and beliefs interconnected with contemporary ways of understanding and being. This framework for diagnosing and treating a mental illness is heavily reliant on observable symptoms. As a result, status or stigma can be attached to multiple aspects of the situation surrounding an individual with or suspected of having a mental illness. Stigmatisation can be noted to form a cycle that becomes inclusive of prognosis, finance/employment and not being able to fulfil culturally held expectations. As a result, future research, and therapeutic intervention of this mental disorder within this demographic will be better informed. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-12
Tronkvoël: An exploration of the intersection of personal experiences and identities, concerning depression
- Authors: Kramer, Brunn David
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Mental illness in art , Art, South African 21st century , Metaphor in art , Depression, Mental , Prisons in art , Identity (Philosophical concept) in art , Gender identity in art , Intersectionality (Sociology)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191647 , vital:45129
- Description: My diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder in 2018 led to my experience of a terrible loneliness and a peculiar isolation that triggered a feeling of imprisonment. The work thus engages with the idea of prison as a metaphor for depression, and is influenced by earlier work that centred around prisons and ex-prisoners. I explore the intersection of gender-based issues, homophobia, racism and religious prejudice that is based on my experiences and identities, in an attempt to understand the depression and communicate the complex prejudices I face in my daily life. The work is based on my lived experience, through which depression can feel like a self-constructed prison. Thus, by visually communicating my lived experiences with depression as a coloured, queer body, I also aim to encourage dialogue and open up conversations around mental illness, as it is all too is often seen as taboo, particularly in communities of colour. I harness old family photographs as a departure point to investigate personal memory, as well as recently captured selfies to explore my narrative of self-imprisonment. I also integrate objects from childhood games such as glass marbles, with prison objects like paper mache dice and shivs all presented in the form of an installation. My invisible prison is visually communicated further through incorporating visual language of the prison – including tattoos, prison slang, and ‘shifts and shanks’ (makeshift weapons). I use a variety of mediums, including charcoal, photographic transfers, paint and linocuts, with a combination of burning and smoking techniques, made by using candle soot, as a primary feature throughout my work. In this mini-thesis I reflect on memories from my childhood and the way they have informed my experience of depression as a self-constructed prison. I position my practice in relation to the work of South African artist Tsoku Maela who navigates similar concerns in his own artworks. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Kramer, Brunn David
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Mental illness in art , Art, South African 21st century , Metaphor in art , Depression, Mental , Prisons in art , Identity (Philosophical concept) in art , Gender identity in art , Intersectionality (Sociology)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191647 , vital:45129
- Description: My diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder in 2018 led to my experience of a terrible loneliness and a peculiar isolation that triggered a feeling of imprisonment. The work thus engages with the idea of prison as a metaphor for depression, and is influenced by earlier work that centred around prisons and ex-prisoners. I explore the intersection of gender-based issues, homophobia, racism and religious prejudice that is based on my experiences and identities, in an attempt to understand the depression and communicate the complex prejudices I face in my daily life. The work is based on my lived experience, through which depression can feel like a self-constructed prison. Thus, by visually communicating my lived experiences with depression as a coloured, queer body, I also aim to encourage dialogue and open up conversations around mental illness, as it is all too is often seen as taboo, particularly in communities of colour. I harness old family photographs as a departure point to investigate personal memory, as well as recently captured selfies to explore my narrative of self-imprisonment. I also integrate objects from childhood games such as glass marbles, with prison objects like paper mache dice and shivs all presented in the form of an installation. My invisible prison is visually communicated further through incorporating visual language of the prison – including tattoos, prison slang, and ‘shifts and shanks’ (makeshift weapons). I use a variety of mediums, including charcoal, photographic transfers, paint and linocuts, with a combination of burning and smoking techniques, made by using candle soot, as a primary feature throughout my work. In this mini-thesis I reflect on memories from my childhood and the way they have informed my experience of depression as a self-constructed prison. I position my practice in relation to the work of South African artist Tsoku Maela who navigates similar concerns in his own artworks. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
A sociological analysis of Rhodes University students’ understanding of depression
- Authors: Kadula, Tadala
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: College students -- South Africa -- Mental health , College students -- South Africa -- Mental health -- Case studies , Depression, Mental , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96258 , vital:31255
- Description: Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, this research sought to analyse and explore how Rhodes University students, both depressed and not depressed, understand depression, and how their understanding influences their interaction with people who do suffer from depression. For the purposes of this paper, eight participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of the eight participants, six of them suffered from depression while the other remaining two participants had never suffered from depression, but they were close to someone who had depression. The findings of this research varied, some understood depression as a mental disturbance, others understood it as a condition that affects your emotions, and others understood it as a multifaceted condition that is highly subjective and cannot be understood using standardized measures. The participants’ personal experience and introduction into a new environment, in this context, university, changed their understanding of depression. The change in how they understood depression correlated with the change in how they interacted with depressed people.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kadula, Tadala
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: College students -- South Africa -- Mental health , College students -- South Africa -- Mental health -- Case studies , Depression, Mental , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96258 , vital:31255
- Description: Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, this research sought to analyse and explore how Rhodes University students, both depressed and not depressed, understand depression, and how their understanding influences their interaction with people who do suffer from depression. For the purposes of this paper, eight participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of the eight participants, six of them suffered from depression while the other remaining two participants had never suffered from depression, but they were close to someone who had depression. The findings of this research varied, some understood depression as a mental disturbance, others understood it as a condition that affects your emotions, and others understood it as a multifaceted condition that is highly subjective and cannot be understood using standardized measures. The participants’ personal experience and introduction into a new environment, in this context, university, changed their understanding of depression. The change in how they understood depression correlated with the change in how they interacted with depressed people.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A Cross-cultural analysis of the normative indicators of the Beck Depression Inventory II(BDI-II) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) amongst young adults in the Eastern Cape,South Africa
- Fourie, Claire https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0255-204X
- Authors: Fourie, Claire https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0255-204X
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) , Depression, Mental
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25117 , vital:63979
- Description: Mental illness rates are climbing, locally and globally. The World Health Organization (2001) has claimed that one in four people will be affected by a psychiatric disorder during their lifetime. With this in mind, there is an array of psychometric assessment measures that are used as tools to assist in the mental health care field. Two such measures are the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). These measures are used globally to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety. However, in South Africa, a paucity of normative indicators exists. This research set out to determine if there are significant differences in performance on the BAI and BDI-II when comparing a sample from the Eastern Cape, South Africa, to the international norms. It was found that performances on the BAI between the local sample and the international sample did not differ significantly. The local sample, on average, performed 4.76 points lower on the BDI-II than those assessed in the international norms. A series of theoretical models are explored in elucidating the findings in this study. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2018
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Fourie, Claire https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0255-204X
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) , Depression, Mental
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25117 , vital:63979
- Description: Mental illness rates are climbing, locally and globally. The World Health Organization (2001) has claimed that one in four people will be affected by a psychiatric disorder during their lifetime. With this in mind, there is an array of psychometric assessment measures that are used as tools to assist in the mental health care field. Two such measures are the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). These measures are used globally to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety. However, in South Africa, a paucity of normative indicators exists. This research set out to determine if there are significant differences in performance on the BAI and BDI-II when comparing a sample from the Eastern Cape, South Africa, to the international norms. It was found that performances on the BAI between the local sample and the international sample did not differ significantly. The local sample, on average, performed 4.76 points lower on the BDI-II than those assessed in the international norms. A series of theoretical models are explored in elucidating the findings in this study. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2018
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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