THE HUMAN BEING IS NO STRANGER TO UNHAPPINESS: ANALISYS UNDER GESTALTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study aims to discuss sadness as a universal human experience, as well as to problematize its increasing pathologization in contemporary society. It is a qualitative research of a theoretical and bibliographic nature, based on the analysis of academic and cultural productions about sadness. It uses psychological frameworks, with an emphasis on Gestalt therapy, in addition to diagnostic manuals to differentiate sadness from depression.The analysis is interpretative and seeks to understand the meanings attributed to sadness in contemporary times. It also problematizes its pathologization and medicalization, especially in the context of social media. Subsequently, a distinction between sadness and depression is established based on diagnostic references and the perspective of Gestalt therapy, which understands suffering as an expression of the relational field and of the individual’s ways of contacting the world. The study also addresses the influence of social media in the construction of a culture of excessive positivity, which tends to silence emotions considered negative, and analyzes the phenomenon of the medicalization of psychological suffering, marked by the reduction of emotional complexity to biological explanations and pharmacological interventions. It concludes that understanding sadness as a legitimate part of the human experience is essential for building a more ethical and integrated relationship with one’s own feelings, in contrast to contemporary demands for constant happiness.