The objective of this research was to understand the social representations of depression in the students of the Psychology Course from a university in the city of João Pessoa, PB. A number of 56 university students participated of the research, from both genders, aged between 18 and 26 years old. As instruments, the Beck Depression Inventory for the screening of the sample and the Test of Free Association of Words were used. Data were processed by Tri-Deux-Mots software (version 2.2) and were analyzed through the Factorial Analysis of Correspondence. The results obtained showed that the students objectified their representations of depression in the melancholy and disillusion, in a bond of support and necessity of care. Lack of affection was also pointed as a depressive fact, and the factors associated to the perception of themselves are elaborated with the social reality of the context in which they live, showing that the semantic associations brought by the university students are a result of the problems that surround their position in the society, as well as the information they gave about the illness.
Depression; Psychology students; Free Association of Words
