The Mourning the heroic ideal in health professionals in the war against COVID-19

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the psychoanalytical conceptualization of mourning, starting with the works of Freud and Lacan, and possible links with the work of health professionals on the “front line” of the struggle against COVID-19, frequently associated with the idealized image of heroes. The loss of an ideal is mentioned by Freud as one of the causes for mourning, an aspect rarely discussed by other authors. The pandemic presents risks of various losses and, for health professionals in direct contact with patients, the loss of this idealized place seems inevitable, due to the severity of the contingency. Starting from that point, we aim to investigate the mourning of the loss of an ideal, as well as the experiences of health professionals attending a psychological support service. An element that surges in this context is the lack of time for experiencing mourning, due to work demands. Freud affirms the importance of not interrupting mourning, and Lacan establishes the possibility of a return to a position of desiring through that process. In the case of health professionals, however, that entails confronting the idealized, which has consequences for the psyche and goes against the demands of productivity to which they are submitted.