Significados Posibles de la Depresión en el Mundo Contemporáneo: Una Lectura Fenomenológica Mundana

this article presents a critical phenomenological critical reading of depression in the contemporary world, based on a cross-cultural research project on depression in brazil, chile and the united states. in order to understand the pathological phenomenon, the author uses the critical psychopathology's perspective, which includes the cultural, the endogenous and the situational dimensions. if depression is understood in a "worldly way", as the intersection between man and the world, then its etiology can be considered as anthropological, sociological, and political, and not purely individual. starting with this assumption, the article addresses the following questions: what is the current meaning of depression as a psychopathological manifestation, constituted mutually with culture, and seen from a "worldly" perspective? what ideology underlies the experience of depression in the brazilian, chilean and north american culture? and at last: which is the cultural and ideological meaning of depression in the contemporary world?