Syndemic Suffering

Social Distress, Depression, and Diabetes among Mexican Immigrant Wome

Emily Mendenhall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315419435
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

In a major contribution to the study of diabetes, this book is the first to analyze the disease through a syndemic framework. An innovative, mixed-methods study, Emily Mendenhall shows how adverse social conditions, such as poverty and oppressive relationships, disproportionately stress certain populations and expose them to disease clusters. She goes beyond epidemiological research that has linked diabetes and depression, revealing how broad structural inequalities play out in the life histories of individuals, families, and communities, and lead to higher rates of mortality and morbidity. This intimate portrait of syndemic suffering is a model study of chronic disease disparity among the poor in high income countries and will be widely read in public health, medical anthropology, and related fields.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Synthesizing the Syndemic
• 2 Synergies of the Self: The Endurance of Syndemic Suffering
• 3 Unpacking VIDDA: An Analysis of Social Stress
• 4 Borderlands: Immigration, Integration, and Isolation
• 5 Narrative to Mechanism: Understanding Distress and Diabetes
• Conclusion
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author