Depression: The pain of the soul of those who lost themselves

Authors

  • Maria Zelia de Alvarenga International Association for Analytical Psychology

Keywords:

depression, pain of the soul, soul as a demand to betray the established, to lose oneself, myth of Orpheus, spiritualized logos and Profound Wisdom, the four Kantian questions

Abstract

Depression, in the symbolic sense, is the best expression of the pain of the soul that has lost its own nature. Depression as a state of imprisonment. Living beings are always undergoing physical, psychic, sociocultural, and noetic transformations. When transformations do not find space to express themselves, suffering arises. The solution would be to break up and when you don’t succeed, depression arises. The search for the possibility of remaking the connection with the other can be done through a process via spiritualized logos. The myth of Orpheus is used to explain the loss of the coniunctio with the anima and the second search for oneself along the path of Profound Wisdom. This search can also be translated by the Kantian questions: “Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life? What is my responsibility to everything around me?” The conclusion on the text defines the condition of understanding that losing oneself, the basis of depression, finds answers, in a second moment of life, through knowledge, via spiritualized logos and conveyed by Profound Wisdom.

Author Biography

Maria Zelia de Alvarenga, International Association for Analytical Psychology

Médica (FMUSP-1966), psiquiatra (AMB), analista junguiana - SBPA (Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analítica) e afiliada à IAAP (International Association for Analytical Psychology). Livros publicados: Mitologia Simbólica (em colaboração); O Graal: Arthur e seus Cavaleiros (em português e inglês – editora Karnac); Édipo, um herói sem proteção divina; Ulisses o herói da astucia (em colaboração com Sylvia Baptista); Por que os deuses castigam? (todos pela Casa do Psicólogo); Os deuses castigam? Anima/Animus de todos os tempos (em colaboração).

References

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BONDER, N. A alma imoral: traição e tradição através dos tempos. Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, 1998.

JUNG, C. G. Símbolos de transformação. Petropolis: Vozes, 1988.

MORENO, D. H.; DIAS, R. S.; MORENO, R. A. Transtornos do humor. In: LOUZÃ NETO, M.R.; ELKIS, H. Psiquiatria básica. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 1995.

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Published

2022-07-01

How to Cite

Alvarenga, M. Z. de. (2022). Depression: The pain of the soul of those who lost themselves. Junguiana, 40(2), 185–194. Retrieved from https://junguiana.sbpa.org.br/revista/article/view/224

Issue

Section

Articles