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Phenomenology of the lived body in depression

Abstract

This article aims at understanding the body experience which is lived during depression, which has as theoretical basis Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological lens and Arthur Tatossian’s phenomenological psychopathology. We use the critical phenomenological method in order to understand the experience lived by people diagnosed with depression. We have realized interviews with 10 collaborators who described the depression experience. This study has revealed that the depression phenomenon is described by means of the recognition of body signs and the division between physical body and mind. We understand that for the collaborators the depression experience restricts its possibilities of existence from what if experience in the body, changing its relation with itself and with the world. Investigating the experience lived by the depressed body contributes to an understanding of the depression phenomenon as an expression of an individual’s existence, which allows for the creation of prevention and treatment strategies which are convergent with such experiences.

Keywords:
depression; phenomenology; body

Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia e do Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Caixa Postal 1622, 59078-970 Natal RN Brazil, Tel.: +55 84 3342-2236(5) - Natal - RN - Brazil
E-mail: revpsi@cchla.ufrn.br