ABSTRACT.
This article analyzed the state of the art of psychopathology of work in Brazil, as an object of study and as a subject, by performing an integrative systematic literature review. A search was conducted in virtual databases using the descriptors ‘psychopathology of work’ and ‘psychopathology’ (AND) ‘work’. We included articles available in full in Portuguese, published in blind peer-reviewed journals containing the descriptors in the title, abstract, keywords and/or body of the text. The final set of texts consisted of 28 articles published between 1992 and 2019, mostly in psychology journals using psychodynamics of work as theoretical and/or methodological reference. Three trends were also identified in the use of the term ‘psychopathology of work’ in the articles: 1) psychopathology of work as an object of study; 2) as a subject; and 3) to discuss the understandings of the relationships between work and pathologies and their practical implications. As an object of study, the relationship between work and mental illness is neglected. As a subject, inaccuracies that flexibilize or ignore the limits between psychopathology of work and psychodynamics of work were identified. Both trends in the literature may be related to the lack of reflections that consider the Brazilian context to understand the relations between work and pathology.
Keywords:
Psychopathology; work; Brazil