No Magic Pills: A Burkean View on the Ambiguity of Mild Depression

ABSTRACT

This article examines the rhetorical productivity of ambiguity in the context of a loosely-defined mood disorder formally known as dysthymia, referred to colloquially as mild depression. First, the article offers a rhetorical history of the unusual institutional conditions under which this definitionally ambiguous diagnostic entity was constructed prior to its debut in the DSM-III. Second, the article explores how dysthymia’s definitional ambiguity functions as a rhetorical resource in the context of contemporary online health interactions.

Notes

1. I am grateful to RR reviewers Lora Arduser and Barbara Heifferon for the thoughtful and generative feedback that they provided on an earlier version of this essay.

2. One such paradox that held Burke’s fascination was what he called the “ambiguity of substance.” This paradox concerns the most basic function of language—naming—and its nature is reflected in our paradoxical usage of term “substance” itself. Burke noted that when the “substance” of a thing is the subject (another member of the “sub” word family) of discussion, the discussion typically centers on the qualities considered most essential or intrinsic to the thing; these qualities are what make the thing itself and not something else. And yet in an etymologically traceable and literal sense “substance” denotes the contextual, extrinsic elements that underlie and are supportive of the thing: the thing’s sub-stance.

3. This online community underwent a “freeze” in 2016 while site administrators sought to reconfigure the structure of the community. Logins were frozen, and no new memberships could be created. As of August 2019, the website is down. Luckily, data collection and analysis for this essay had been completed well before the site underwent its supposedly temporary “freeze.”

4. For years, serotonin imbalance was considered a major contributing factor to the development of depression in humans. This theory has been bolstered by the fact that the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, SSRIs, affect levels of serotonin in the brain and thus appear to ameliorate depression symptoms by increasing serotonin. Multiple studies, some of which have made public news, have challenged the serotonin-imbalance theory of depression. At present, many mental health professionals and researchers criticize serotonin imbalance theory as oversimplified and outmoded (Solomon).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ellen Defossez

Ellen Defossez is an Assistant Professor at Whitman College in the department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse. She welcomes any feedback at [email protected]