The Master's thesis analyses and explores the context of mental distress in the specific conditions of contemporary western society. In the first part of the thesis, the author focuses on the importance of the topic for social pedagogy, which he argues for mostly in the light of social pedagogy's intertwines with the anti-psychiatric movement, as well as in reference to some modern trends of treatment of mental distress, which are predominantly defined by intense privatization and medicalization. The COVID-19 pandemic and the effects the restricted public life has had on public mental health are used to demonstrate the inadequacy of the predominant bio-medical concept of mental health. Since the problem is for the most part addressed within the frames of Erich Fromm’s existential humanistic theory, the author begins with contextualizing his work in the Frankfurt school, between the psychoanalytic and Marxist theory. Before delving further into some of Fromm’s crucial ideas, his core presuppositions which enable formulation of his concepts are addressed and analyzed. There, the author makes space for the questioning of Fromm’s theory and looks more precisely into arguments of some of his critics. The controversy here is centred around Fromm’s interpretation of Freud and Marx, as well as his presuppositions concerning essentiality of human nature. Aware of the theoretical limits of Fromm’s theory, the author argues that his conceptualization of human needs has stood the test of time and remains as relevant today as it was at the time of his writing. In what follows, Fromm’s understanding of “man’s existential condition” is adressed, which he illustrates with his interpretation of the biblical story of exodus from Eden. Further on, the central non-physiological needs of human beings are described and rethought in the context of the necessity of their satisfaction for mental health. In the final section, it is argued, based on selected contemporary social diagnoses, that the current social reality does not enable the satisfaction of most of these needs in a manner conducive to mental health.
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