SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION IN ELDERLY KOREAN IMMIGRANTS - NARRATION AND THE HEALING-PROCESS

This paper explores ways in which depressive symptoms are expressed by elderly Korean immigrants in the USA. Depressed elderly Korean immigr ants in the Washington DC area were interviewed in depth to explore th eir conceptualizations of depression in terms of explanatory models an d semantic networks. The expressions of depressive symptoms were influ enced by linguistic and psycho-socio-cultural factors, therapeutic beh aviors, and efficacy of treatment. The data were interpreted in terms of traditional Korean medical principles, cosmological, socio-cultural , and religious influences, and an individual's family structural chan ges and acculturation. Findings indicate the construction of somatizat ion among Korean elders is more complex than is generally reported: in most cases, a dynamic, holistic blend of processes appears to operate simultaneously, instead of as somatization in isolation. Informants p laced different degrees of emphasis on psychologization or somatizatio n, or the two combined. The roles of personality, value orientation, i ntellect, emotion, economic status, degree of acculturation, degree of dependence on children, living situation (with or not with children), and self-will or self-confidence are important influences on the depr ession symptoms in the psychologization-somatization continuum. The mo re self-directed the informants are, the more they psychologize; the m ore other-directed, the more they seem to somatize. Names and symptoms of depression (a Western concept) and popular illnesses (traditional Korean concepts) were used interchangeably by the informants. When inf ormants were asked to explain the signs and symptoms of depression and sadness, some described symptoms similar to the criteria of major dep ression is DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association), while others ga ve different symptoms and ways of expressing them. Some informants bel ieved that symptoms and signs of depression can be concealed from othe rs if one chooses to do so. Many felt that manifestations of depressio n can be controlled by willpower, personality, and self-care.