Psicologia della resistenza: review of Gianpaolo Contestabile's book

di Luisa Longobucco

There is a phrase, a slogan, that I deeply believe in: “no era depresiòn, era capitalismo.” It wasn't depression, it was capitalism. A phrase that electrified me when I first heard it years ago, during a debate of which I was making a report, that radically changed my view of what I already wanted to do - study to become a psychiatrist - but also, in some way, of the world itself and our life in this capitalist system. This slogan comes from the protests, started by the student population, that shook Santiago, Chile, in 2019, and narrates us a concept that is the subtext of the essay “Psychology of Resistance. Of mental health, change and struggle,” published by effequ.This book is, in my opinion, not a simple essay, but also a beautiful account of what the taking charge of mental health could be: it creates an imaginary, tells the story of a certain psychology starting from the characters who made this history, moves us and sows a seed of hope, while remaining analytical and ...