Enlutados da pandemia: os testemunhos daqueles que perderam entes queridos sob o viés fenomenológico heideggeriano

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on March 11th, 2020, that we were facing the first pandemic of the 21st century. Given the threat to human survival imposed by the virus, sanitary measures were adopted worldwide to reduce its spread and preserve the highest possible number of lives. In Brazil, however, the results have been tragic. A little more than three years after the beginning of the pandemic, more than 700,000 people died in our country. The contingent of mourners for their loved ones is as high as the number of dead people. These survivors had a total prohibition or a huge impact on the funeral rites as the contagious rate was elevated in the worst moments of the pandemic. This study aims to comprehend the mourning experience felt by those who lost their loved ones due to the Covid -19. This Hermeneutic Phenomenological research is inspired by Heidegger´s possibility of interpretation from the Hermeneutic Circle thought, as seen in Azevedo and Dutra (2013). An interview was conducted with three people (two women and one man). The analysis of the narrative interviews was based on the understanding and interpretation of the experiences shared by the participants. Results revealed the meanings attributed by the participants to the mourning experience. That being said, the interpretations of the narratives suggest personal experiences that include the fundamental aspects of the feelings of fear and anguish triggered by the threat to both their existence and their relatives due to the pandemic. The narratives about their state of mourning in the pandemic also showed experiences of disbelief concerning the death of their relatives; variation between the states of affliction and hope towards the recovery of relatives during hospitalization; impotence due to the impossibility of being by the side of their loved ones during hospitalization, which made them have to wait for the daily medical report provided by the hospital. The study states some reflections about the mode during the funeral of being-with the one who died, considering the presence of sanitary measures during the whole event. Hopefully, the results of this research will contribute to the visibility of millions of Brazilians whose existential suffering seems to be neglected, considering that, until the present moment, social policies related to mental health care have not been thought towards those that are, undoubtedly, the mourners from the pandemic.