The Phenomenology of Depression as a Modification of the Own Experience of the Self: Body Opacity, Temporal Desynchronization and Guiltiness

Authors

  • Jorge Martínez Lucena Universitat Abat Oliba CEU

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revmedica.v2.1308

Keywords:

Depression, Phenomenology, Corporeality, Desynchronization, Guilt, Narrative Self,, Postmodern Society

Abstract

Last years, phenomenology has demonstrated its own value in the field of medicine with useful distinctions as the one among illness and disease. It has also contributed to psychiatry. Some inter-disciplinary works about mental illnesses can be found. The phenomenological description of the melancholic depression patient has three main features: a) the transformation of his own body experience; b) a continuous feeling of guilt; and c) a time experience which is desynchronized from the otherness. This paper aims to synthetize this phenomenological research about depression, which has been considered one of the plagues of our time. Moreover, it tries to explain how these changes in the patient’s experience can imply certain modifications of his own self-experience.

Author Biography

Jorge Martínez Lucena, Universitat Abat Oliba CEU

Es profesor de Antropología en la Universitat Abat Oliba CEU de Barcelona. Ha sido Visiting Researcher en la Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milán) de Septiembre de 2007 a Enero de 2008, así como en la University of Hertfordshire (Hatfield, UK) de Septiembre de 2009 a Julio de 2010 como Visiting Researcher en la University of Hertforshire (Hatfield, UK). Tras ello, fue Visiting Associate de Enero de 2011 a Junio de 2011 en la Durham University (Durham, UK). Además, es autor de diversos artículos especializados en diversos campos de las humanidades, y de ensayos en torno al pensamiento contemporáneo (especialmente el de Derrida, Foucault y Taylor), la cultura pop, y los imaginarios sociales de la posmodernidad. Algunos de sus libros son Los antifaces de Dory. Retrato en collage del sujeto posmoderno (Scire, 2008), Vampiros y zombis posmodernos. La revolución de los hijos de la muerte (Gedisa, 2010) y Ensayo Z. Una antropología de la carne perecedera (Berenice, 2012).

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Published

2013-03-05

How to Cite

Martínez Lucena, J. (2013). The Phenomenology of Depression as a Modification of the Own Experience of the Self: Body Opacity, Temporal Desynchronization and Guiltiness. MEDICA REVIEW. International Medical Humanities Review Revista Internacional De Humanidades Médicas, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revmedica.v2.1308

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Research articles

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