Abstract

NETO, Modesto Leite Rolim. The Discourse and Narratives in the Depression Experience. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2005, vol.6, n.2, pp.131-138. ISSN 1645-0086.

The purpose is to relate the discourse of the depressive individual with the narrative manifestations included in the stories based on the experience with the disorder. Two hundred and twenty patients were interviewed, with ages ranging from 20 to 59 years, the Municipal Hospital of Santa Cruz, located in the state of Paraiba, Brazil. A sample of 120 patients was selected with clinical characteristics of depression, based on CID-10 (International Disease Code) diagnostic criteria; undergoing psychological treatment and having signed an informed consent form. The narrative interview was used as the data collection instrument. Participatory observation completed the inclusion and patient follow-up. The clinical diagnostic and psychological variables were mapped through the Free Association of Words Test. The determining emotional risk factor for depression in the patients analyzed was a history of psychiatric disorders (79,5%) related to the age of the patients. Psychosocial indicators vary from economic factors (89,9%) to stressful events linked to poverty and drought (65,78%). The analysis of the discourse of the depressive individual is classified into an enunciative order, through a preestablished social practice. Even when patients do not recognize being depressive, they show traces of the disease through the manner in which they report events, giving them a meaning indicating their depressive state.

Keywords : Depression; Discourse analysis; Narrative.

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