Emotional experiences play a central role in relationships with others. The aim
of this paper is to study the manifestation, and phenomenological significance of
emotions in depression, as they occur in the domain of interpersonal relationships, and the way they are influenced by culture. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, and using Sartre’s accounts of interpersonal relationships and the significance of emotions, I offer an account of emotional experiences in depression among Iranian patients. As compared to those in the UK, Iranians complain about a range of different emotional experiences in depression. These include the replacement of guilt with aggression, and the desire to isolate oneself from others, as opposed to feeling lonely, as is seen in the UK. These differences, as I show, can be accounted for through a) phenomenological considerations of the kind of experiences we as human beings go through, and b) cultural norms and frames of thought which play
a role in the significance of such experiences and their interpretations.