Kata Kita: Journal of Language, Literature, and Teaching
Vol. 13 No. 3 (2025)

To Keep Her Breathing: A Novella Exploring How Long-Term Depression Affects Women’s Health

Rachel Immanuel (Petra Christian University)
Liliek Soelistyo (Petra Christian University)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Dec 2025

Abstract

This creative thesis incorporates a cyberpunk dystopian narrative to study the effects of long-term depression on women's physical health by showing the connection between psychological stress and physical decline. It highlights the often-overlooked reality that untreated stress can manifest as chronic pain, sleep disturbance, and cardiovascular issues. These ideas will be developed into a cyberpunk dystopian novella supported by Slavich and Irwin’s Inflammation Theory of Depression (2014) and the concept of Socio-economic Marginalization by Hall and Carlson (2016). The narrative mainly focuses on Li, a woman who suffered from depression throughout her life because of childhood trauma and continuous emotional abuse. As her mental health deteriorates, she experiences migraines, insomnia, and hypertension. Throughout the narrative, Li is offered the opportunity to get better using psychological treatment and stress-reducing practices like meditation. Her journey provides a reminder that recovery is possible by facing trauma, taking back control, and gradually coming to terms with her condition to improve her health and self-worth.

Copyrights © 2025






Journal Info

Abbrev

sastra-inggris

Publisher

Subject

Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

Kata Kita is a journal dedicated to the publication of students research in the areas of literature, language, and teaching. In the study of language, it covers issues in applied linguistics such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, sylistics, corpus ...