Table 2.

Extracts from participants’ accounts that illustrate the symbolic significance of everyday work.

Description	Verbatim extract
The symbolic significance of everyday work to emphasize attempts at ‘normal life’ in the context of limitations	“I’ve got to be doing something. I’ve got to be tidying up. I’ve got to make sure my house is the way I want. No I wouldn’t sit in my own filth, no. I’ve got to do my housework whether it kills me or not.” (P4 B: female, 50 years, MM + depression) “Doing the garden nearly killed me [laughing], but I had to get it done.” (P10 B: female, 64 years, MM + depression)
The importance of everyday tasks to manage symptoms of depression	Staying occupied and active helped to prevent a “mental death”: “When you’re sitting here all day long, day in, day out, and there’s nothing different… that’s why you get depressed, you know… I walk about here thinking ‘what can I do?’ And you can’t do anything to get your mind off it, you know. But if you’ve got something to do then you don’t think of that and the time goes quicker… You get to a point where your mind goes dead… because you’ve got nothing to think about.” (P12 B: male, 52 years, MM + depression)
	Doing household tasks (often assigned to him by his wife) were a helpful distraction from anxieties about his health: “Sitting here you think about everything and you just… Everything… a wee [small] twinge and you’re ‘och [oh] no, what’s happened now’, you know what I mean? Whereas when you’re working you don’t think of these things. You’re working, you’re busy, you’re doing stuff.” (P9 A: male, 50 years, MM + depression)
Difficulties keeping going with everyday life work due to depression, especially in a poor area	“I’ve stopped going out… I’ve stopped doing this and I’ve stopped doing that. But… it is really silly, but that’s in there [indicates head]… I need to erase the last 3 years and just think positive and think forward… That’s a hurdle I just need to get over [it].” (P9 A: male, 50 years, MM + depression)
	“[My area] is a place where they send you to die really. They should put a fence round it. They send you there to forget about you. They had these houses, they built them, they’re cheap and nasty. Everything about them’s cheap. Everything… We’re shoved up here with nae [no] facilities. The nearest facilities to here are the shopping centre basically that you need a car to get to. There’s nae facilities. When I came here there was bowling greens, the football pitches were actually used. There was bowling greens, tennis courts, the shops. There’s nothing now. The nursery school, primary school, church, everything’s been pulled down. It’s stripped bare. There’s nothing left at all eh very poor quality houses.” (P11 B: male, 52 years, MM + depression)
Difficulties accepting help to support everyday life work	“I feel as if people are thinking, ‘poor soul. Look she’s got a stick’… And that kind of stops me [using it].” (P2 A: female, 62 years, MM + depression)
	“I don’t like being in public using a stick… I was using it in here [in the house]. Half of [the area] has got sticks. Right, I know that’s bad me saying that. But when you see them up there and they’re swopping crutches, you know: ‘I’m going to doctor’s, lend us yer [your] crutches’, know what I mean? And it was like, you know, well, I’m not going out there [with crutches].”(P10 B: female, 64 years, MM + depression)