Agency of depressed adolescents: embodiment and social representations

Major depression is becoming more common among adolescents. Most research into major depression disorder focuses on intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, but the importance of sociocultural factors is less investigated. This study explores the role of social representations in the construction of adolescents diagnosed with major depression. The researched was informed by the concept of human agency and Social Relational Theory.

Interviews were conducted with fifteen hospitalized adolescents diagnosed with a major depression disorder using a semi-structured interview schedule. The research question was: What are the social representations about being a normal person that influence depressed adolescents and their lived experiences of having major depression? Transcripts were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Five superordinate themes emerged out of the data: (a) Depression means personal failure; (b) Feeling bad is not allowed and is not normal: in fact, depression doesn't really exist; (c) You are obliged to have an intimate relationship, otherwise you are not normal; (d) It is important to have future projects for personal and social well-being; (e) Being socially well integrated is normality.

Clinical and therapeutic implications are discussed.