Estudio cualitativo

Published on 29 de julio de 2026 | http://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2026.06.3227

Depression stigma in Chile: A qualitative study of beliefs, emotions, and behaviors toward people with depression

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Examples of illustrative citations from the “beliefs” macrocategory.
CategoryCite
Emotional characteristics“Well, of course, nothing very positive. Things like discouragement, despondency, hopelessness, and, of course, not being able to see the bright side of things or situations.” (Woman, no history of depression, lower-middle socioeconomic status).“It’s just that they want to… they have an instinct to kill themselves. I mean, because… They feel like they can’t get ahead. It’s because they don’t ask for help.” (Woman, no history of depression, low socioeconomic status).
Behavioral characteristics“Depression, for me..., has to do with a person who is already isolated, that’s true. In this image I see (...) of the person who is in bed, who doesn’t go out, who finds it hard to go out, who doesn’t socialize, who doesn’t talk about it, who says they’re fine. All of this points to a person who is closed off, isolated, withdrawn into themselves, and who doesn’t step outside their comfort zone—not out of fear, or anything like that... (...) But also, because they take refuge in that.” (Male, with a history of depression, middle socioeconomic status).“‘Oh, so-and-so is in a bad way.’ So it carries a connotation of being lazy, of wanting to shirk responsibilities, or of being crazy, or maybe not being fit for the job you’re doing.” (Woman, no history of depression, middle socioeconomic status).“I think it’s super hard to tell. I mean, to know whether someone does or doesn’t have depression (...), like with people who seem totally fine, who you spend time with every day, who make you laugh a lot, or with whom you share really nice moments—and you look at them and say, ‘How could they possibly have depression?’ You know what I mean? If you didn’t know. No, no… And then there are also people who are affected in a different way and just shut down.” (Woman, with a history of depression, lower-middle socioeconomic status).“I remember it perfectly as a burden. I already felt like a burden, even to my closest friends—the ones I thought were my closest friends. And I felt like a burden, like, you know, something uncomfortable to have around at those times.” (Man, with a history of depression, lower-middle socioeconomic status).
Dispositional attribution“I think that, well, this (…) used to happen more often. But I think there must still be some of that—the idea that people used to associate it a lot with a person’s weakness. Yeah, like this person (...) isn’t as strong as usual, let’s say. And that’s why—that’s why they get depressed in circumstances where another person would just be sad, or it would be something more fleeting, let’s say. I think you still see that today.” (Male, no history of depression, lower-middle socioeconomic status).“Well, there’s this other group that thinks these people are too… that they lack inner strength. They’re mentally weak. Therefore, they shouldn’t even be allowed to hold positions of importance because of their emotional or mental weakness. So they see them as people who are depressed because, basically, they want to be depressed.” (Male, no history of depression, very high socioeconomic status).

SES, socioeconomic status.

The quotes represent subcategories of “beliefs” about people with depression.

Source: Prepared by the authors of this study.