A construção social da depressão na contemporaneidade.

Abstract

Depression is a polysemic phenomenon that, when combined with psychological, biological, and social factors, can present different causes. It is estimated that about 350 million people worldwide are affected by this phenomenon every year. Thus, depression has been considered by many as a great "malaise" of the 21st century, which has increased to a level of an epidemic, due to the proportion it has taken in the contemporary world. Considering this, the present study aims to analyze how the experience of depression is socially constructed. To do so, we sought to comprehend which social circumstances lead individuals to be affected by depression, how the diagnosis of the disease has been carried out, how the covid-19 pandemic maximized the suffering of those affected by depression, and which strategies are used by individuals to deal with this condition. In regards to the methodology followed, our research is qualitative, and we used interviews with a semi-structured script to generate data, as well as the snowball sampling technique for recruiting individuals. We draw on the contributions of Bauman (2001), Dunker (2021), Lipovetsky (2005), Han (2017), Ehrenberg (2010) and Kehl (2009). Thus, we found that the individuals affected by depression make use of symptoms and medical vocabulary to express their feelings since their answers are shrouded in suffering, symptoms, and malaise.