Despite the incremental growth of cross-cultural and anthropological research, the notion of the universal diagnosis of depressive disorder, with the standard criteria based on psychobiological dysfunction, remains in the foreground. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of such universal concept, proposing a model that views depression as an outcome of a dialectic relationship between culture and biological processes.

In an effort to illuminate the interconnections between culture, history and depressive phenomena, a cross-cultural, qualitative approach was undertaken, choosing Slovakia as a cultural sample. Using the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant, multiple groups of eight participants (i.e., psychiatrists, psychologists, general practitioners, clinical population and the general public) were selected for the present study to determine what depression is, how it is experienced, manifested and treated in the context of Slovakian culture and history.

The results of the present study illuminated the powerful role of culture and history on people's understanding, manifestation and treatment of depression. The changes in the social order (i.e., the fall of Communism and integration of Slovakia into the European Union), were found to shape the emotional order in Slovakian society, resulting in the dramatic shift from the somatic to psychological idioms of distress. This transition in symptom manifestation and treatment was found to closely mirror the shift in the socio-political structure in Slovakia, involving the movement towards capitalism, modernism and the individualist concept of selfhood and emotions.