Teacher emotional health: between suffering and care practices

Abstract

This review analyzes the book Saúde Emocional dos Professores (Teachers’ Emotional Health) (2025), by Lenilson Ferreira, dedicated to discussing teachers’ mental health within the contemporary school context. Drawing on contributions from psychoanalysis together with accounts from teachers’ professional experience, the book examines manifestations of anxiety, depression, burnout syndrome, sleep disorders, and emotional distress, understanding them beyond explanations centered exclusively on the individual. Throughout the analysis, teacher illness is linked to aspects present in everyday school life, including the intensification of professional demands, the difficulties faced in the classroom, and the recent transformations in educational work. The review highlights the relevance of the testimonies gathered by Ferreira for understanding teachers’ suffering and problematizes the limits of self-care strategies when disconnected from concrete working conditions. In this sense, the book helps to show that the discussion on teachers’ emotional health requires considering the ways in which school work has been organized and experienced in contemporary times.