Abstract
The conception of depression has been demonstrated to vary across cultures (Kleinman & Good, 1985). In particular, research has focused on monocultural individuals (see Cheung, 1985; Kleinman, 1986 for a discussion on the conception of depression in Chinese people). Relatively little research has assessed the conception of depression in individuals exposed to more than one culture secondary to cross-cultural living. The chapter reviews the literature on the conception of depression of ethnic Chinese people living in the United States.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Bond, M. H., & Cheung, T. S. (1983). College students’ spontaneous positive self-concept: The effect of culture among respondents in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 14(2), 153–171.
Chang, H., & Holt, R. (1991). The concept of yuan and Chinese interpersonal relationships. In S. Ting-Toomey & F. Korzenny (Eds.), Cross-cultural interpersonal communication (pp. 28–57). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Cheung, F. M. (1985). An overview of psychopathology in Hong Kong with special reference for somatic presentation. In. W. S. Tseng & D. Y. H. Wu (Eds.), Chinese culture and mental health (pp. 287–304). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Cheung, F. M. (1995). Facts and myths about somatization among the Chinese. In T. Y. Lin, W. S. Tseng, & E. K. Yeh (Eds.), Chinese society and mental health (pp. 156–166). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Heine, S. J., & Lehman, D. R. (1995). Cultural variation in unrealistic optimism: Does the West feel more vulnerable than the East? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(4), 595–607.
Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Hsu, F. L. K. (1985). The self in cross-cultural perspective. In A. Marsella, G. DeVos, & F. L. K. Hsu (Eds.), Culture and self: Asian and Western perspectives (pp.24–55). New York: Tavistock.
Jenkins, J. H. (1994). Culture, emotion, and psychopathology. In S. Kitayama & H. Markus (Eds.), Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence (pp. 307–335). Washington, DC: The American Psychological Association.
Kaptchuk, T. J. (1983). The web that has no weaver: Understanding Chinese medicine. Chicago: Congdon and Weed.
Kleinman, A. M. (1980). Patient and healers in the context of culture: An exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine and psychiatry. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kleinman, A. M. (1986). Social origins of distress and disease: Depression, neurasthenia, and pain in modern China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kleinman, A. M., & Good, B. (1985). Culture and depression: Studies in the anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry of affect and disorder. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kuo, W. H., (1984). Prevalence of depression among Asian Americans. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 449–451.
Lutz, C. (1985). Depression and the translation of emotional worlds. In A. Kleinman & B. Good (Eds.), Culture and depression (pp.63–100). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.
Okazaki, S. (1997). Sources of ethnic differences between Asian American and White American college students on measures of depression and social anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(1), 52–60.
Radloff, L. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.
Russell, J. A., & Yik, M. S. M. (1996). Emotion among the Chinese. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology (pp. 166–188). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Sue, S., & Zane, N. (1987). The role of culture and cultural techniques in psychotherapy: A critique and reformulation. American Psychologist, 42(1), 37–45.
Thich, N. H. (1987). Being peace. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press.
Tsai, J. L., Ying, Y., & Lee, P. A. (2000). The meaning of “being Chinese” and “being American”: Variation among Chinese American young adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(3), 302–322.
Tung, M. (1991). Insight-oriented psychotherapy and the Chinese patient. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61(2), 186–194.
Tung, M. (1994). Symbolic meanings of the body in Chinese culture and “somatization.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 18, 483–492.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (September, 1997). CPS publication - Country of origin and year of entry into the U.S. of the foreign-born: March 1997 [WWW Document]. URL:http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/1997/forborn.htm
Wu, D. Y. H. (1982). Psychotherapy and emotion in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In A. J. Marsella & G. M. White (Eds.), Cultural conceptions of mental health and therapy (pp. 285–301). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel.
Yang, K.-S. (1995). Chinese social orientation: An integrative analysis. In T. Y. Lin, W. S. Tseng, & E. K. Yeh (Eds.), Chinese society and mental health (pp. 19–39). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Ying, Y. (1987). Depression in Cantonese Chinese American immigrant women. Unpublished study.
Ying, Y. (1988). Depressive symptomatology among Chinese Americans as measured by the CES-D. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 739–746.
Ying, Y. (1989). Nonresponse on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale in Chinese Americans. InternationalJournal of Social Psychiatry, 35(2), 156–163.
Ying, Y. (1990). Explanatory models of major depression and implications for help-seeking among immigrant Chinese-American women. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 14, 393–408.
Ying, Y. (1997). Psychotherapy for East Asian Americans with major depression. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp.252–264). New York: Guilford Press.
Ying, Y., Lee, P. A., Tsai, J. L., Yeh, Y., & Huang, J. S. (2000). The conception of depression in Chinese American college students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6(2), 183–195.
Zheng, Y.-P., Lin, K.-M., Takeuchi, D., Kurasaki, K. S., Wang, Y., & Cheung, F. M. (1997). An epidemiological study of neurasthenia in Chinese Americans of Los Angeles. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 38(5), 249–259.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ying, YW. (2002). The Conception of Depression in Chinese Americans. In: Kurasaki, K.S., Okazaki, S., Sue, S. (eds) Asian American Mental Health. International and Cultural Psychology Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0735-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0735-2_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5216-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0735-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive