Psychiatric disorder in a rural and an urban population: 2. Sensitivity to loss

In an earlier paper we found that a model of depression developed on a sample of women in a London population was confirmed in a female population in the Outer Hebrides. Differences in the rates of onset and chronic cases between the two populations, however, suggested that the Scottish women might be more likely to become depressed after the death or intimation of death of close relatives; furthermore, it seemed that such depressions were more likely to remain chronic in the Scottish islands than in London, and to contain a strong anxiety component. This difference is discussed in the light of socio-cultural differences between the two populations, particularly in terms which relate family structure, marital position and contact with relatives to affective disorder in terms of theories of attachment.