从忧郁症到抑郁症:社会文化视角下的疾病映像

抑郁症作为一种情感性精神障碍自古有之,该病的命名不仅是疾病分类的基础,也是医学经验交流的起点。通过对抑郁症的西方医学史文献进行梳理,从社会文化角度分析抑郁症的病名改变因由,在对抑郁症的病因缺乏科学系统的认识时期,医学从业者以某一医学理论模型或社会文化类比阐释该病,在由忧郁症转变为抑郁症的过程中,病名的转变不仅体现了医学知识的逐渐丰富与对于疾病认识的持续深入,更能反映出当时哲学思想导引与社会文化变迁。

From Melancholia to Depression: In The Socio-cultural Views of Diseases

As an affective disorder, depression can date from ancient times.The nomination of the disease is not only the basis of its classification but also the starting point of medical experience exchange.The paper mainly discusses the reasons of changing from melancholia to depression from the aspects of social culture, which is analyzed the literatures of depression in the western medicine and culture.Because of the lack of scientific and systematic understanding about etiology of depression in a given period, medical practitioner interpreted the disease through the medical theoretical models or socio-cultural analogy.The change of the name reflects the richness of medical knowledge, which makes people learn more about the disease.At the same time, it reflects the changes of social culture under the influence of philosophy.