Three ‘Depressed Families’ in Transitional Beijing

Focusing on three Beijing families with a depressed family member, the author uses presenting symptoms as an entry into the socio-political pathway as experienced by each family. All three families shared a theme of gender evolution, a testimonial to the particular social historical period to which they belonged, and a struggle to make sense of personal and familial lives in the context of an ever changing social and political climate. These case examples offer a glimpse into a spectrum of changing patterns of family lives in modern China, and provide a snapshot of how they interface with the larger system within which they are embedded. © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.