Abstract
The labor legislation in force in Brazil has improved flexible forms of employment recruitment and labor-intensive production techniques, which contributes to the increase in the country unemployment rates. With the pressure and more rigid forms of hiring, these changes directly affected the mental health of workers. Considering that, this article aims to analyze the experience of a support group for unemployed workers developed in a school psychology clinic in Northern Brazil. The intervention consisted of seven meetings with an average duration of 90 minutes each, and the group was formed by two men and three women aged from 37 to 51 years, with minimum unemployment time of eight months and maximum of two years; all individuals agreed to participate by signing the Informed Consent Term. The participants reported preferring formal work over the informal one, for it represents greater social recognition, security, and professional stability. Unemployment evoked feelings of loss, humiliation, and social exclusion, besides impacting humor and heightening anxiety and stress. The results indicate that psychology can offer support based on a welcoming and comprehensive listening of phenomena related to the world of work and/or consequences of unemployment on workers’ subjectivity.
Keywords:
Unemployment; Humiliation; Suffering; Informal Work