Abstract
The aim of the article is to analyze the relationship between mental health, the Covid-19 pandemic, and precariousness, considering the contemporary processes of neoliberal subjectivation that run through them. First, we present the historical and social construction of the concept of mental health since the second half of the 20th century, whose currently naturalized everyday use ranges from wellness to pathology. We show the capture of the concept and its changing in meaning by the neoliberalization processes that establish a set of values that guide the current way of life and tend to colonize all dimensions and experiences of life. Then, we highlight how the Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the processes of neoliberal subjectivation. The precariousness, in turn, are analyzed not especially in objective terms, but mainly subjective, considering the predominant lifestyle in Western capitalist culture. We conclude by making explicit the production of a dominant subjectivity characterized by precariousness and exhaustion.
Keywords:
Mental health; Covid-19 pandemic; Precariousness; Subjectivation; Neoliberalism