Abstract

The paper presents how proverbial-like narratives depict the cultural aspects of depression. Typical automatic thoughts are illustrated by paremioscripts, defined as mental scripts imprinted in proverbs. The paper outlines the conceptual context of depression in the dialogical self, and proverbs as collective memory. Key dimension of optimism-pessimism is a background to isolate the typical thoughts of the depressed. It shows how psychology may be culturally adjusted by typical narratives familiar to clients from their distinct cultural background. This paper proposes that paremiology (the study of proverbs) and proverb thinking when applied to depression reveal specific cultural features of depressiveness. It presents how optimism and pessimism imprinted in typical Polish proverbs bear cultural aspects of depression. Some practical implications are presented as to how proverbs may be applied in culturally-oriented psychotherapy.