Depression in Cultural Context: Chinese Somatization, Revisited

Chinese depressed patients emphasize somatic symptoms; this represents one sustained line of evidence-based inquiry about how culture shapes depression. Some explanations highlight cultural variations in experience and expression of symptoms; others emphasize language use and social positioning. We propose an alternative to this dichotomy, starting from a model of culture, mind, and brain as 3 deeply interconnected levels of one system. We can then propose ways in which the social world shapes depressive symptom presentation, including the personal experience of these symptoms. Such a view has potential impact on how mental health professionals think about, study and treat depression.