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This paper provides a critique of the current diagnostic and therapeutic orthodoxy in relation to the concept of depression. It argues that there are substantial problems with the conceptual validity of the diagnosis, and that both empirical and moral objections can be raised to the current preference for a therapeutic response. It makes the case for an alternative that conceptualises misery, distress and sadness as existential states arising in particular social and biographical contexts. Its central argument is that the varieties of determinism that underpin the diagnostic and therapeutic discourse obscure important aspects of human agency and diminish options for its expression in the life world of the people receiving the diagnosis of ‘depression’. On this basis the focus of interest for health workers becomes the ability, working with patients, to discover dignity, meaning and purpose in the midst of suffering and distress.

This chapter explores theory and local context of socially constructed pandemic fears during COVID-19; how material and non-material fear objects are construed, interpreted and understood by communities, and how fears disrupt social norms and influence pandemic behavioural responses. We aimed to understand the lived experiences of pandemic-induced fears in socioculturally diverse communities in eastern Indonesia in the context of onto-epistemological disjunctures between biomedically derived public health interventions, local world views and causal-remedial explanations for the crisis. Ethnographic research conducted among several communities in East Nusa Tenggara province in Indonesia provided the data and analyses presented in this chapter, delineating the extent to which fear played a decisive role in both internal, felt experience and social relations. Results illustrate how fear emotions are constructed and acted upon during times of crisis, arising from misinformation, rumour, socioreligious influence, long-standing tradition and community understandings of modernity, power and biomedicine. The chapter outlines several sociological theories on fear and emotion and interrogates a post-pandemic future.

The indexing of volumes made up of contributions by different authors raises questions which do not arise in indexing a treatise, a textbook, or a narrative by a single author. Such a book is a coherent whole. Its chapters, sections, and paragraphs are balanced so as to create in the reader's mind the pattern of knowledge or ideas and the distribution of emphasis the author intends. The language and style are uniform. The same special terms are used with the same meanings and implications throughout. All this makes it possible for the indexer to distinguish the wood from the trees and decide which kinds of trees call for more notice than others by scanning right through the book before he starts considering the details.

Violence toward frontline health-care workers (HCWs) from patients and visitors is a pervasive issue that ranges from verbal and psychological abuse to physical assault. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased reports of escalated verbal workplace aggressions (VWPAs); however, most studies have been conducted internationally. Studies based in the USA have focused on physical violence experienced by nurses and paramedics in emergency situations. The purpose of this study is to learn about the experiences of different levels of frontline HCWs with VWPA from patients and visitors and discover ways to address this issue.

This qualitative descriptive study asked registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and patient care technicians from one health-care system about their experiences with patient and visitor VWPA using an anonymous, voluntary open-ended survey and in-person interviews. In all, 31 participants completed the survey and 2 were interviewed. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

Three themes emerged from the data: the experience, moving through and moving forward. Frontline HCWs described experiences of VWPA, indicating its forms, frequency and conditions. They used coping, along with personal and professional measures, to manage and move through the situation. Moving forward was captured as suggestions for the future and conveyed hope for a perfect state.

The experiences of frontline HCWs offered insight into how they perceive and cope with difficult encounters. Recommendations relate to not only implementing interventions that support frontline HCWs but also creating a culture where aggression is not tolerated and addressing perpetrator behavior is a priority.