Time and the Dog

The relationship of depression to contemporary capitalist society

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As capitalism takes over all the hours of our conscious life, it is also invading our subconscious-there is no time to take respite from the economic treadmill. The rising mental health problems throughout the world can no longer be seen as personal or family failings, but as responses to a desperate political and economic system. Maria Rita Kehl is a psychoanalyst who has worked with depressive patients for many years. In this groundbreaking new book, she examines the relationship of depression to contemporary capitalism. She begins by exploring the symbolic role of melancholy from the classical era to the middle of the twentieth century, showing how depression moved from the public realm of the aesthetic field to the privacy of the psychoanalytic clinic. This is followed by an examination of the role of time in our understanding of depression, drawing on the work of Benjamin and Bergson. Finally, Kehl looks at the clinical treatment of depression from the psychoanalytic perspective, drawing a distinction between the subjective and circumstantial dynamics. This book will change how we see depression today.