FROM MELANCHOLY TO BURNOUT: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUFFERING

Abstract

This article analyzes the social construction of diagnostic categories of psychological suffering, tracing the trajectory from melancholy to burnout. It aims to demonstrate that such categories are not neutral, but socio-historical constructions shaped by power relations and cultural contexts. Through qualitative documentary research and a Foucauldian genealogical approach, diagnostic manuals (DSM and ICD) and critiques of medicalization are analyzed. The results reveal a process of individualization of suffering, in which collective malaise is transformed into individual pathologies, as in the redefinition of burnout as a management failure. It concludes by advocating for a reflexive psychological practice that recognizes the constructed nature of diagnoses and promotes a contextualized and political listening to pain.