Providing a contrasting view to evolutionary psychology's hypotheses on depression: using a ‘material-discursive’ approach to interpret the experiences of depression in women from South Asian communities

Abstract

This study reports findings from a qualitative study exploring women from South Asian communities resident in the UK and their ‘experiences of depression’. The paper aims to provide an apparently contrasting social context to the evolutionary perspective on women's experiences of depression. The theoretical foundation for the analysis of these findings is a ‘material-discursive approach’. Depression is recognized as ‘embodied’, that is as grounded in the materiality of the body which is immersed in subjective experiences and the social context of women's lives.