Interpersonal Therapy on Depressed Women from Low Income Minority Groups Helps Make Them Happier Individuals

Women mainly from low income minority backgrounds suffering from depression do not like to talk about it especially if their problem is given a nuance of mental illness. Very often symptoms linked with depression like lethargy and lack of motivation are taken to be laziness. Children brought up by depressed mothers grow up with skewered ideas about life and are often unhappy products of society who are drawn to the baser elements of life. It has been found that these women seldom use the clinical therapy available. But interpersonal, problem solving counseling in the homes of these women is more successful in curing depression in them rather than normal clinical therapy. They were better able to deal with their problems if their depression was referred to as being moody or sad, if they were encouraged to talk about their feelings. They became happier individuals; felt empowered and started taking control of their lives.