I chose to write about the medicalization of depression as portrayed by the DTC ad for Abilify, an add-on antidepressant. I define medicalization as 'when an actual diagnosis is given to a patient, and by receiving said diagnosis they are freed from blame and given the possibility of treatment' (taken from Reynolds, J.F., "The Rhetoric of Mental Health Care")
I argue three main points:
(1) I argue that the use of a woman as the depressed character pushes the idea that women are more prone to depression and need to seek treatment.
(2) I discuss how the blob represents depression and how it is always lingering and waiting to regain control.
[watch the ad to see what the "blob" is]
(3) I discuss how the ad as a whole convinces the audience that knowing about Abilify enables them to know how to manage their own depression symptoms.
Major findings:
- The ad targets the female audience, suggesting that women are more prone to depression and therefore need to figure out how to be "normal" through the use of multiple medications
- The ad uses empathy to its advantage and makes the female audience relate to the busy, social - and also depressed - woman in the ad
- The "blob" personifies depression, and this personification is what medicalizes depression and deflects blame from the woman. The blame is not placed upon her because her depression is a separate entity.
- The blob (i.e., depression) lingers in the ad, even after the Abilify is prescribed to the woman. This lingering suggests that depression is going to creep back up and regain control if she stops taking the medications.
- The sole existence of Abilify enables the audience to realize that they can take control and ask for Abilify in order to successfully manage their depression symptoms
- The main idea of the ad is that multiple prescriptions are needed to treat depression, particularly depression in women. Nowhere in the ad does it suggest other remedies or even stopping the antidepressant that the person is already taking. (this last bullet is mostly a part of my conclusion/implications rather than my analysis)
- How could the "blob" be seen as a metaphor? What metaphor(s) would Segal apply to the blob in relation to health and medicine?
- How could using a male as the depressed character change the overall message of the Abilify ad?
- How would Dubriwny respond to this ad? (i.e., how does the female character represent the "vulnerable empowered woman"?)
In regards to your second question, I believe that this can be easily connected to when we discussed postpartum depression in class, and how in the videos we saw there was only one male. I don't know if this stems from women being defined as hysterical for many decades, but depression is most often associated with women. There is more of a stigma with men who are dealing with depression because of the gender roles in our society establishing men as the "logical" and "tough" ones while females are more "emotional" and "weak." I think if people got past these, some of the simplest of predefined gender roles, people would understand that depression does not just affect women. If the depressed character was male, it would make it easier for a man suffering from depression to pay attention to and trust this ad, and the ad would have to change than to be just about being a depressed woman looking to better herself.
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