The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China

doi:10.1080/01292986.2017.1339722

CORC > 上海财经大学 > 上海财经大学

	The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China
	Li, Yungeng 1; He, Qijun 2
刊名	ASIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION
	2018
卷号	28 期号:2 页码:170-184
关键词	Health reporting neurasthenia depressive disorder cultural rationality
ISSN号	0129-2986
DOI	10.1080/01292986.2017.1339722
英文摘要	Neurasthenia (shenjing shuairuo) and depressive disorder are medical issues that have given rise to disputes in China for more than 20 years. Since the 1980s, the once ubiquitous diagnosis of neurasthenia in China was rapidly substituted by depressive disorder in the clinical context. Globally, the metamorphosis from neurasthenia to depressive disorder heralded the triumph of scientific rationality, which identifies neurasthenia as a categorical fallacy. In China, however, neurasthenia retained social and cultural significance; thus, it has become a contestable discourse in relation to depressive disorder. By examining the health reporting of both discourses over a decade, this study explicated how neurasthenia and depressive disorder were represented in a popular health newspaper in China. The content analysis showed that neurasthenia is a more culturally and everyday embedded discourse closely associated with Chinese medicine and laymen's discourse, while depressive disorder is more associated with Western medicine and the professional discourse. The differentiation of two sets of medical discourse evinces that despite the ostensibly prevailing scientific rationality in media health reporting, cultural rationality is deeply embedded in communicating mental health issues with the lay public. It further suggests the significance of investigating the social and cultural expression of mental illnesses in China.
WOS研究方向	Communication
语种	英语
出版者	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
WOS记录号	WOS:000423622800004
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://10.2.47.112/handle/2XS4QKH4/809]
专题	上海财经大学
通讯作者	He, Qijun
作者单位	1.Shanghai Univ Finance & Econ, Sch Humanities, Dept Journalism, Shanghai, Peoples R China; 2.Chinese Univ Hong Kong, Sch Journalism & Commun, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Li, Yungeng,He, Qijun. The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China[J]. ASIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION,2018,28(2):170-184.
APA	Li, Yungeng,&He, Qijun.(2018).The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China.ASIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION,28(2),170-184.
MLA	Li, Yungeng,et al."The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China".ASIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 28.2(2018):170-184.