The Intersection of Autonomy and Sociotropy: The Quest of Life in Women with Depression

Abstract

The study aimed to understand clinical depression in a collectivistic context such as India, with preexisting hierarchies of gender and an emphasis on relational identity. It aimed to extend the application of Beck’s Sociotropy-Autonomy Model as an etiological explanation for depression. Researchers used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyze transcribed semi-structured interviews with 11 participants of Indian nationality, who had a prior diagnosis of one or more depressive disorders. The results generated themes such as womanhood and the barter of autonomy, gifts and burdens of perception, weight of self-advocacy, living as a contrarian in society, healing powers of connection and relational autonomy, for both causes and resolution of depressive state. The themes integrated into a bidirectional web highlighting the relationship between Sociotropy, Autonomy, Gender, and Depression. In addition, the study highlighted present gaps in conceptualising depression from a social lens and can add to the preexisting explanatory models of depression.