Depressão em pauta: Um estudo sobre o discurso da mídia no processo de medicalização da vida

Abstract

Depression has been a frequent theme in the area of health over recent decades. With the objective of analyzing what has been discussed about it in the communication media (CM), we have conducted a descriptive research analyzing journalistic material published in the electronic versions of the newspaper A Folha de S. Pauloand of the magazine Veja from 1999 to 2008. We have observed an expansion in risk situations, with the dissemination of statistical associations and the increasing identification of diseases as causes of depression. The exhibition in the CM of cases of depressed people intermediates a process of identification and acceptance of the diagnosis through the looping effect, as suggested by Hacking. The most frequent treatment prioritizes the biological model, focusing on the use of medication. Intermediate conditions could increase the risk of depression, as suggested by the journalistic material, increasing the medicalization of life.