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The discourse world of unbecoming in online depression narratives in China: a discursive psychology approach

  • Yating Chen recently received her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, and is currently a lecturer at Huaqiao University, China. She has a broad research interest in narrative analysis and discourse analysis, particularly how discourse, identity and emotion interplay to realize different agendas in social media. Her work is published in international journals such as Discourse, Context & Media, Emotion, Space and Society and The Journal of Creative Communications.

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Published/Copyright: March 17, 2025
Text & Talk
From the journal Text & Talk Volume 45 Issue 5

Abstract

The emergence and proliferation of online depression communities (ODCs) on social media have illuminated the emotional landscape of individuals experiencing depression and the linguistic characteristics intrinsic to depression narratives. Despite the substantial growth of these communities, scant research has been conducted on unmanaged ODCs. These communities often construct narratives of unbecoming that recount experiences that have been missed, lost, rejected, or undone, thereby offering a window into the nuanced complexities of depression narratives. Drawing upon the discursive psychology approach, this study selectively investigates 2,000 comments of 20 core participants in ‘Zoufan’ Weibo, a representative ODC in China, to discern how the participants communicate discursive positioning via linguistic cues. Adopting the four-world approach, I code four types of positioning cues, map them onto three discourse worlds, and report the most salient linguistic resources observed within each world. I further argue that the commenters construct a realm (the fourth world) characterized by an emotional estrangement from the self and the environment. The findings offer insights into depression narratives in Chinese ODCs and highlight the value of the discursive psychology method in emotion studies.

Keywords: online depression community; discourse world; depression narratives; emotions; discursive psychology; ‘Zoufan’ Weibo
Corresponding author: Yating Chen, College of Foreign Languages, Huaqiao University, No. 269 Chenghua North Road, Quanzhou, Fujian 362021, PR China, E-mail:
This paper has been developed based on a working paper titled “Online Discourse of Depression in China: Linguistic Characteristics of ‘Zoufan’ Community”, which was published in The DiscourseNet Collaborative Working Paper Series (no. 7, June 2022) and is available at https://discourseanalysis.net/sites/default/files/2022-07/Yating_2022_DNCWPS_7.pdf. It is important to note that the current version has undergone significant revisions and differs substantially from the working paper.

About the author

Yating Chen

Yating Chen recently received her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, and is currently a lecturer at Huaqiao University, China. She has a broad research interest in narrative analysis and discourse analysis, particularly how discourse, identity and emotion interplay to realize different agendas in social media. Her work is published in international journals such as Discourse, Context & Media, Emotion, Space and Society and The Journal of Creative Communications.

Acknowledgements

The author is deeply grateful to Dr. Amelie Kutter (European University Viadrina Frankfurt) for her peer commentary on the working paper version of this study. Special thanks are also extended to her former supervisors, Dr. Ang Pei Soo (Universiti Malaya), for her initial review of an early draft of this manuscript and for liaising with the editor, and Dr. Charity Lee (Universiti Malaya), for her insightful guidance in shaping the early direction of the manuscript. Furthermore, the author wishes to express her gratitude to Prof. Srikant Sarangi, the editor, for his invaluable and constructive feedback during the final stages of this manuscript’s preparation.

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Received: 2023-09-26
Accepted: 2025-02-26
Published Online: 2025-03-17
Published in Print: 2025-09-25

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. The discourse world of unbecoming in online depression narratives in China: a discursive psychology approach
  4. Rapport-building in extreme environments: the case of astronauts in space and support crew on the ground
  5. An appraisal analysis of judgement values on a Chinese political web forum
  6. Targeting and double accountabilities of action in interaction
  7. A comparative study of interactional metadiscourse used by American and Chinese corporate leaders in corporate social responsibility (CSR) statements
  8. “Don’t worry, be a senior?” The metaphorical labelling of late-life depression in Australian news media
https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2023-0185
Keywords for this article
online depression community; discourse world; depression narratives; emotions; discursive psychology; ‘Zoufan’ Weibo

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. The discourse world of unbecoming in online depression narratives in China: a discursive psychology approach
  4. Rapport-building in extreme environments: the case of astronauts in space and support crew on the ground
  5. An appraisal analysis of judgement values on a Chinese political web forum
  6. Targeting and double accountabilities of action in interaction
  7. A comparative study of interactional metadiscourse used by American and Chinese corporate leaders in corporate social responsibility (CSR) statements
  8. “Don’t worry, be a senior?” The metaphorical labelling of late-life depression in Australian news media
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