MENTAL SUFFERING IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19'S HEALTH CRISIS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The health crisis of the covid-19 pandemic produces expressions of suffering in Brazil and in the world. Since March 2020, the country has been challenged by the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, a mutated, potent, little-known and lethal virus that has already killed more than 600,000 people and infected more than 30 million people on Brazilian soil alone. Furthermore, the consequences go beyond the field of Collective Health and affect the economic and social dynamics in contemporary times, whether due to narrative disputes between saving the economy or lives, or due to the greater exposure of subjects at social disadvantage and even more precarious living conditions. Direct consequences that have been perceived as an effect of two years of pandemic are the development and worsening of psychological suffering, which are present in a considerable part of the population. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), in addition to psychologists and psychiatrists, have considered this phenomenon as a “parallel epidemic” when referring to the picture of mental illness that has emerged. Thus, it is a relevant subject due to its influence on the loss of quality of life for people and their families. For this reason, this essay aims to analyze how the health emergency influenced the population's mental health, using theoretical categories developed by exponents of contemporary social thought, particularly the concepts of "State of exception" mentioned by Giorgio Agamben, the “necropolitics” explained by Achille Mbembe, the notions of “biopolitics” and “control of bodies” by Michel Foucault, in addition to the discussions about “precarious lives” by Judith Butler, among other categories and authors. In addition, we also made a brief reflection on the management of information that circulates on social networks during the pandemic and its impacts on the mental health of Brazilians. The aforementioned authors and their theories, although distinct, converge, in this analysis, in the sense of offering ballast for the deepening of the theme of mental suffering in the pandemic context in Brazil. We understand that this is an urgent discussion that needs to be brought up so that, based on the scientific and political debate, we can find alternatives that help us to reduce the harmful effects of the epidemic on the production of subjectivities in Brazilian society.