Resumen de Defining Depression:: Endogenous Materialities, Exogenous Immaterialities
Definitions are narratives in action, implying a need to track down the ontology of what is defined. In this case, we explore the mutual tension and/or symbiosis (with consonant and dissonant spaces) arising from the definition of depression. We approach the term ‘depression’ as a controversial subject, mapping a comparison between lay and expert narratives on the malaise, and making use of digital ethnography as the methodology. A self-administered online open questionnaire was completed with the definitions of 29 lay respondents. In addition, expert narratives were gathered with the definitions of 9 health institutions’ web sites, and public mediation forums. Definitions echoed from both spaces, with splits between biological materiality and psychological-social immateriality, with a reiteration of the division between exogeneity and endogeneity, respectively.
Here, the emotiveness of the subject can be seen as stemming from the sum of reductionisms and cumulative factors as to what depression is. Finally, we consider other possible ontologies of depression that either: (1) take socio-material assemblies into account or (2) follow the pragmatical turn, defining depression in action. This research opens new approaches towards identifying external materialities, shifting the blame from the diagnosis of the individual towards the mechanisms that spawn harmful relationships.
