How Iranian lay people in three ethnic groups conceptualize a case of a depressed woman: an explanatory model.
OBJECTIVE
Although depression is a major public health problem, little is known about lay people's views of this subject in Iran. The aim of this study was to explore how depression in women is viewed among lay people in three major ethnic groups--Kurd, Turk, and Fars.


METHODS
Participants were selected from public urban healthcare centers. Four focus group discussions were conducted for each of the three ethnic groups and classified by level of education from three locations, in the capital city (Tehran), west (Ilam), and the northwest (Tabriz) of Iran. Twelve focus groups; 38 men and 38 women have been conducted by using a case vignette describing a woman with major depression.


RESULTS
Depression symptoms were perceived as a temporary phenomenon. It was regarded as a colloquial term for feeling blue, mostly related to external stressors (social model). The common terms used in all ethnic groups were depression, and nerve/soul distress. Environmental cause and war were considered as external causes of the symptoms, and emotional factors, cognition distortion, and biological reasons, as internal factors. The participants believed it was necessary to seek help from religion, family and friends, positive thinking, and distraction from social problems, besides consultations with psychologists as counselors. Medication was often seen as the last resort. Stigma was mentioned as an important factor that makes people avoid visiting psychiatrists.


CONCLUSIONS
These data may have implications for mental healthcare practice, especially for the approach to diagnosis of depression. Moreover, there is a need for developing and integrating gender-relevant and cultural indicators in the existing national mental health systems in Iran.
Dejman
Masoumeh
M
Section of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. masoumeh.dejman@ki.se
Forouzan
Ameneh Setareh
AS
Assari
Shervin
S
Rasoulian
Maryam
M
Jazayery
Alireza
A
Malekafzali
Hossein
H
Baradaran Eftekhari
Monir
M
Falahat
Katayon
K
Ekblad
Solvig
S
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged