Psychiatric disorder in a rural and an urban population: 3. Social integration and the morphology of affective disorder

Abstract

Synopsis: This paper focuses on the morphology of affective disorder. We set out to confirm on the island of Lewis a cross-over result originally found on the island of North Uist, whereby in those sections of the population where the rates of depression were lowest the rates of anxiety were highest. These sections of the population varied in the degree to which their members were integrated into the traditional way of life. ‘Integration’ was characterized in terms of churchgoing and crofting (the word for farming in the Hebrides). It is predicted here that the churchgoing rather than the crofting component of the integration measure would account for any cross-over result found concerning the morphology of symptoms. This hypothesis, derived from a theoretical concern with links between repression and anxiety, is not confirmed. Instead, crofting is found to be the component of the integration index which predicts anxiety/phobia without depression. In seeking to explain this unexpected finding further significant associations between crofting, pure anxiety/phobia and the style of personal relationships are revealed. It is also confirmed that types of severe events among women are also found to vary with the degree of integration into traditional society. A perspective is then developed which might explain how the interaction between style of personal attachments and types of provoking event could produce variations in the morphology of affective disorder.