Attitudes to depression have changed over time, and vary a lot between different nations. Certainly over the past 20 years there has been a big shift in the USA towards people openly discussing their diagnosis of depression, and taking medications, or psychotherapy.
In the 1990’s the prescription of Prozac became increasingly popular. People in the USA in particular seemed to be more comfortable with disclosing their personal diagnosis and use of antidepressants. The UK has certainly gone down this road too. However, in places like India people are still very reluctant to even see a doctor over their depressive symptoms. Furthermore, people in India tend to somatise their symptoms (present with pain rather than sadness). This seems to be because of the stigma still present in India.
Psychotherapy/talking therapy has also become very widespread over the last 20 years (particularly in the US, although I hear it is popular in Argentina). Whereas, not long ago, depression was seen as a sign of weakness, it almost seems as though it can be a sign of status (in some sectors of society only) if you can afford to see a therapist .
The word count prevents me from elaborating on some of these points, but since we have group members from different countries perhaps we can identify differences in attitudes??
