The VIDDA Syndemic : Distress and Diabetes in Social and Cultural Context
This dissertation illustrates a theory of syndemics to explain the intersections of psychological and social suffering with diabetes and depression among low-income first and second generation Mexican immigrant women in Chicago. Moving beyond concepts of "epidemic" and "comorbidity," a syndemics framework describes situations in which adverse social conditions, such as poverty and oppressive social relationships, stress a population, weaken its natural defenses, and expose it to a cluster of diseases. I have coined The VIDDA Syndemic to unpack the social phenomena interactive with diabetes and depression. The first dimension of The VIDDA Syndemic is Violence & mdash;encompassing structural, symbolic, and everyday forms. The second dimension is Immigration and associated social isolation. The third aspect is Depression, which in many cases has been prolonged and internalized for decades, and for which very few poor women receive treatment. Type 2 Diabetes is the fourth dimension. The final dimension addresses verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual Abuse reported by two-thirds of the women in this study. Through discussion of these five distinct and interactive dimensions of The VIDDA Syndemic this dissertation shows how women's narratives of suffering cannot be dissociated from the political-economic and social inequalities that shape them, or the impact of such chronic adversity on escalating rates of depression and diabetes
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2012
Dissertation Abstracts International
2012