NEW IDEAS

Psychopathology of Achievement Society

Riccardo Poggioli

Stressing the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue for psychology, this work represents an attempt to integrate some relevant psychopathological phenomena into their sociocultural framework. Byung-Chul Han’s “The Burnout Society” is here presented and widely discussed, with special regard to his description of what he finds to be the current form of society: an achievement society.
Clinical implications are analyzed from a comparative perspective, drawing a parallel between the evolution of society and changes observed in phenomena that lays the foundation for a broad reinterpretation of classical psychoanalytic theory and allows to shed some light on topical and contemporary issues such as narcissism, borderline life-world and depression. As a general overview, the aim is to introduce some key elements that will need to be further developed.

Keywords:

Byung-Chul Han, Achievement society, Psychopathology, Phenomenology, Psychoanalysis

Dial Phil Ment Neuro Sci 2022; 15 (2): 51-54