Life Events and Depression in a Kenyan Setting

Abstract

SummaryThirty Kenyan patients of black African origin undergoing treatment for clinical depression in Nairobi, and 40 matched non-psychiatrically disturbed controls in the community were studied for life events using the Brown-Harris model. It was found that the depressed group had significantly more life events (P <0.001 with Yates correction for continuity) in the twelve months preceding the onset of their depression than the controls in the same period. These results are similar to those obtained by several workers in Western settings. Their implication for the practice of psychiatry in an African context is examined, and some myths about psychiatry in Africa re-examined.