Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Youth and Helplessness: report of an intervention research

Abstract:

The present work is the result of an intervention carried out with a group of students from an NGO in the city of Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to teaching classical music to children and young people in a situation of social vulnerability. The fieldwork took place in a context of non-formal education, aiming to conceive the psychoanalytic clinic in an expanded perspective and, still, to insert psychoanalysis as a practice capable of producing clinical-political effects. Based on the Field Journal produced during the meetings, reflections are made in order to analyze the repercussions of the group space of reception and listening offered to young people, in an intertwining of theory and practice.

Keywords:
Psychoanalysis; Expanded Clinic; Non-Formal Education; Adolescence; Social Vulnerability

Resumo:

O presente trabalho é fruto de uma intervenção realizada com um grupo de alunos de uma ONG da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, dedicada ao ensino de música clássica para crianças e jovens em situação de vulnerabilidade social. O trabalho de campo se deu em um contexto de educação não-formal, visando conceber a clínica psicanalítica em uma perspectiva ampliada e, ainda, inserir a psicanálise como uma prática capaz de produzir efeitos clínico-políticos. A partir do Diário de Campo produzido ao longo dos encontros, reflexões são tecidas no sentido de analisar quais as repercussões do espaço grupal de acolhimento e de escuta ofertado aos jovens, em um entrelaçamento de teoria e prática.

Palavras-chave:
Psicanálise; Clínica Ampliada; Educação Não-Formal; Adolescência; Vulnerabilidade Social

Social inequalities in the educational field: vulnerabilities in question

Throughout this article we will discuss the intervention work done with a group of young people enrolled in a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to teaching classical music to children and young people in situations of social vulnerability. In the context of the research in question, the use of the term youth refers to an expanded age range between 15 and 25 years of age. Working with young people in situations of social vulnerability leads us to consider, initially, psychic work around two situations of helplessness: one specific to the adolescent condition and another specific to the situation of social vulnerability in which the young people in question find themselves. It is a youth that also suffers from the State’s helplessness, in the sense of a lack of guarantees for the basics that puts them at the mercy of society, inserted in a context whose fundamental mark is uncertainty.

Works that work on the interface between adolescence, education and mental health have been developed by psychoanalysts who are betting on the possibility of carrying out a dialogue between these fields of knowledge (Millot, 2001MILLOT, Catherine. Freud Antipedagogo: Rio de Janeiro: Zahar , 2001.; Kupfer, 2010KUPFER, Maria Cristina Machado. O Sujeito na Psicanálise e na Educação: bases para a educação terapêutica. Educação & Realidade , Porto Alegre, v. 35, n. 1, p. 265-282, 2010.; Lajonquière, 2017LAJONQUIÈRE, Leandro de. Elucidação Comparativa dos Estudos em Psicanálise e Educação na França e no Brasil: a psicanálise aplica-se à educação? Educar em revista, n. 64, p. 19-33, 2017.; Voltolini, 2011VOLTOLINI, Rinaldo. Educação e Psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar , 2011.; Pereira, 2017PEREIRA, Marcelo Ricardo. De Que Hoje Padecem os Professores da Educação Básica? Educar em Revista, n. 64, p. 71-87, 2017.; Coutinho; Andrade, 2017COUTINHO, Luciana Gageiro; ANDRADE, Claudia Braga de. O Que as Ocupações nos Ensinam Sobre a Adolescência, o Laço Social e a Educação? ETD-Educação Temática Digital, v. 19, p. 48-62, 2017.; Gurski, Barros; Strzykalski, 2019GURSKI, Rose; BARROS, Jane Fischer; STRZYKALSKI, Stéphanie. O Enlace entre Psicanálise, Educação, Cinema e a Experiência Adolescente. Educação & Realidade, Porto Alegre, v. 44, n. 2, p. 1-17, 2019.). Coutinho and Rocha (2007COUTINHO, Luciana Gageiro; ROCHA, Ana Paula Rongel. Grupos de Reflexão com Adolescentes: elementos para uma escuta psicanalítica na escola. Psicologia Clínica, v. 19, n. 2, p. 71-85, 2007.) argue that the use of the psychoanalytic method in educational contexts “[...] it can be very productive in assisting adolescents, as it is a clinic radically crossed by the social, the political and the institutions, taking into account the specificities of the operations specific to the psychic work of adolescence” (p. 72). It is also worth highlighting the multiple possibilities of action when we talk about education, which is warned by Lajonquière during an interview with Rodrigues and Reis (2018RODRIGUES, Rogério; REIS, Magali. A Ilusão (Psico)Pedagógica e o Empobrecimento das Experiências Educativas (Entrevista a Leandro de Lajonquière). Estilos da Clínica , v. 23, n. 2, p. 430-450, 2018.). It is also necessary to be aware of the impasses that involve educational issues, without thinking about education in a single and universal sense: it is necessary to take into account the particularities of regionalities and different school systems. In expanding this view, we indicate the article cited above, by Coutinho and Rocha (2007), when they talk about a psychoanalytic intervention carried out in a public school, the so-called formal education, while Voltolini (2015VOLTOLINI, Rinaldo. Miséria Ética na Educação Inclusiva: por uma inclusão política mais do que social. Educação, v. 38, n. 2, p. 222-229, 2015.) and Kupfer (1996KUPFER, Maria Cristina Machado. Pré-Escola Terapêutica Lugar de Vida: um dispositivo para o tratamento de crianças com distúrbios globais do desenvolvimento. Estilos da Clínica, v. 1, n. 1, p. 8-17, 1996.) present contributions obtained with the use of psychoanalysis in inclusive education. Gurski (2017GURSKI, Rose. Jovens ‘Infratores’, o RAP e o Poetar: deslizamentos da ‘vida nua’ à ‘vida loka’. Subjetividade, v. 17, n. 3, p. 45-56, 2017.), in turn, develops an intervention research in an institution for the fulfillment of socio-educational measures, with adolescents in conflict with the law. Following these directions, we will now discuss the report of an intervention research carried out in a non-formal educational context. Before starting the discussion in question, it is necessary to understand, briefly, how this modality of education has been gaining space in our country.

The Federal Constitution (FC) in force in Brazil, dated 1988, in its second chapter, entitled On social rights, provides for the guarantee of the right to education for all Brazilian citizens (Brazil, 1988BRASIL. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, 1988.). Even though governments, in their different spheres, were already prioritizing the school issue even before the FC was enacted, the school to this day remains as an unevenly distributed social product. As of the promulgation of the Statute for Children and Adolescents (Brazil, 1990BRASIL. Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente. Brasília: Editora da Fenabb, 1990.), different actions in defense of the integral protection of children and adolescents and their rights, such as that of education, started to be prioritized. It is also worth emphasizing the primary role of the school with regard to the personal and social development of the subjects. Law 9.394/96 itself, which establishes the guidelines and bases of national education, indicates that the role of the school exceeds the issue of academic training, also contemplating the student’s ethical and social formation, the development of critical thinking and the thematic of citizenship (Brazil, 1996BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. Diário Oficial da União , Brasília, 1996.).

In the last few decades, public schools have been faced with the constant lack of support from the State since the removal of safety nets and adherence to the neoliberal discourse that propagates the idea of a minimum state, weakening the public network. A State that does not provide guarantees to the citizen does not take the place of reliability: weakened, it leaves the subject at the mercy, without anchoring, without guarantees, in other words, with no prospect of the future. This state of affairs makes public school students live with uncertainty, destabilization, and the precarious conditions of educational institutions. Despite this, they continue to face the demand for good performance and favorable results, especially with regard to school performance. The situation described reveals some aspects of the process of precarious public education, which certainly contributed to the emergence of NGOs that work in school after-hours, offering artistic, sports, cultural activities and even school reinforcement. These spaces of non-formal education, also called social education, aim to problematize, and interfere in the current social context, loaded with injustices and social inequalities (Núñez, 2003NÚÑEZ, Violeta. El Lugar de la Educación Frente a la Asignación Social de los Destinos. In: MOLINA, José García. De Novo, la Educación Social. Madrid: Dykinson, 2003. P. 209-218.).

States of inequality, social injustice and material deprivation can produce a type of suffering whose roots go beyond the universe of individual idiosyncrasy, revealing how the precariousness and vulnerability of the bonds of belonging and social cohesion impact the subject’s position and experience in the world - interfering in the processes of identity construction (Bourdieu, 1997BOURDIEU, Pierre. A Miséria do Mundo. Petrópolis: Vozes, 4a ed., 1997.) and the subject’s inscription in structures that carry meaning (Castel, 1998CASTEL, Robert. Metamorfoses da Questão Social. Uma crônica do salário. Petrópolis: Vozes , 1998.). It is important to recognize the effects resulting from the experience of social inequalities, which devalue, humiliate, and do not recognize the subjects’ potential, leaving psychic marks with little or no social visibility. That is, sufferings that have their origin in cruel social reality (Kleinman; Das; Lock, 1997KLEINMAN, Arthur; DAS, Veena; LOCK, Margaret (Org.). Social Suffering. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.; Carreteiro, 2003CARRETEIRO, Teresa Cristina. Sofrimentos Sociais em Debate. Psicologia USP, São Paulo, v. 14, n. 3, p. 57-72, 2003.; Furtos, 2007FURTOS, Jean. Les Effets Cliniques de la Souffrance Psychique d’Origine Sociale. Mental Idées, n.11, 2007., 2008FURTOS, Jean. Le Syndrome d’Auto-Exclusion. In: FURTOS, Jean. Les Cliniques de la Précarité: contexte social, psychopathologie et dispositifs. Paris: Elsevier Masson, 2008.; Renault, 2008RENAULT, Emmanuel. Souffrances Socialles: sociologie, psychologie et politique. Paris: Le Découverte, 2008. ). For Castel and Haroche (2001CASTEL, Robert; HAROCHE, Claudine. Propriété Privée, Propriété Sociale, Propriété de Soi. Paris: Fayard, 2001.), the subjects who experience such suffering end up not having enough support to develop strategies without having to resort to dependence and, as a consequence, end up going through the process of social disaffiliation.

The process of social disaffiliation also has the effect of discursive helplessness (Rosa, 2002ROSA, Miriam Debieux. Uma Escuta Psicanalítica das Vidas Secas. Revista Textura, São Paulo, ano 2, n. 2, p. 42-47, 2002.), which occurs when the discursive structures are not solid enough to maintain the social bond, the subjects lacking subjective resources that allow them to develop strategies for defense to overcome the difficulties that arise. For Rosa (2013), these experiences result in the loss of identificatory ties of similar to socially excluded groups. This process is the result of the condition of invisibility and the deadly silence to which they are subjected, based on the hegemonic discourses of society that remove the condition of subject. Without solidarity, they end up having no place in society and are thrown out of politics.

For the educator and philosopher Paulo Freire (1997FREIRE, Paulo. Educação ‘Bancária’ e Educação Libertadora. In: PATTO, Maria Helena Souza. Introdução à Psicologia Escolar. São Paulo: Casa do Psicólog, 1997. P. 61-78.), there are two forms of education: banking and liberating. The first concerns situations in which students are seen only as mere objects, that is, containers to be filled with knowledge. It is up to the students to reproduce the hegemonic and oppressive culture, and not to apprehend its reality or critical development. In return, the author presents the proposal for a libertarian education, capable of enabling students to raise awareness of the position of the oppressed. In his words, the:

[...] antagonism between the two conceptions, one, banking, which serves domination; another, the problematizer, which serves liberation, takes shape right there. While the first necessarily maintains the educator-student contradiction, the second overcomes (p. 71).

We propose here the approximation of the movement previously described with what the patron of Brazilian education points out as an effect of the aforementioned banking education, since when removing from the students the possibility of having conscious bodies they are also denied the condition of being subjects. In other words, this denial of the body, legitimized and reproduced in school institutions, results in the inability to understand, and communicate, contributing to the reproduction and maintenance of oppression from the dominant classes. In this sense, we bet on the construction of collective listening spaces that enhance the process of recognizing the annulment of the condition of subjects or, in other words, the denial of their bodies.

Youth and Helplessness: a psychoanalytical view

Working with young people leads us to consider the psychic work at stake in adolescence, a work that concerns the resumption of the Oedipal field with the entry into puberty and its implications for the psyche (Freud, 1996aFREUD, Sigmund. Três ensaios para uma teoria da sexualidade. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. VII). Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1996a. P. 119-235. [1905]). Unlike puberty (biological phenomenon), adolescence (psychological processes) is conceived less as a chronological stage and more as a psychic operation that does not present a clear demarcation in time, varying according to each subject and each culture. In this sense, several authors of psychoanalysis (Rassial, 1997RASSIAL, Jean Jacques. A Passagem Adolescente - da família ao laço social. Porto Alegre: Artes e Ofícios, 1997.; Lacadée, 2011LACADÉE, Philippe. O Despertar e o Exílio: ensinamentos psicanalíticos da mais delicada das transições, a adolescência. Rio de Janeiro: Contra Capa Livraria, Opção Lacaniana, 2011.; Corso, 2018CORSO, Diana; CORSO, Mario. Adolescência em Cartaz: filmes e psicanálise para entendê-la. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2018.) use terms such as passage, transition and crossing to talk about the adolescent operation, important in terms of subjectivity and psychic constitution, which would make it possible to assume the position of adult subject in our society and which has been increasingly extended in time, prolonged, or even never being carried out by some adults.

That is to say, the physical and biological metamorphoses of puberty, as Freud (1996aFREUD, Sigmund. Três ensaios para uma teoria da sexualidade. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. VII). Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1996a. P. 119-235. [1905]) pointed out, are conditions, but they are not enough, for there to be a psychic transformation and a change in the subjective position, necessary for the subject to build a history personal and, at the same time, to be inserted in the social collectivity. What is at stake, essentially, in the transition from adolescence is the possibility of the desire to find a destination outside the family through psychic and subjective rearrangements. It is a period of existence that imposes a new identity construction that allows the subject to create a new relationship with himself and with the world (Pirone; Le Clère, 2014PIRONE, Ilaria; LE CLÈRE, François. La Relation Éducative Affectée: éclairages cliniques et philosophiques sur les pannes de la relation éducative entre adultes et adolescentes. Educatio, n. 3, 2014.). Thus, in Freudian terms, the revival of the Oedipus complex in adolescence could be understood as a reissue because its manifestation occurs simultaneously with the overcoming of incestuous fantasies, the separation of parental ideals and the choice of new identifiable references.

Freud (1996aFREUD, Sigmund. Três ensaios para uma teoria da sexualidade. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. VII). Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1996a. P. 119-235. [1905]) considered the detachment from authorities and parental figures as “[...] one of the most significant and also most painful psychic achievements of the puberty era” (p. 149). The de-idealization of childhood parents can leave adolescents in contact with a profound helplessness that will make them resort to certain defenses, such as the devaluation of objects to deny the feelings of pain and loss and the search for substitute figures of parents in the social sphere. These socially shared substitute figures are a first way of elaborating the loss of the first objects of love. In this process of separation from parents, Kehl (2000KEHL, Maria Rita. Existe uma Função Fraterna? In: KEHL, Maria Rita (Org.). Função Fraterna. Rio de Janeiro: Relume Dumará, 2000. P. 31-47.) addresses how youth groups - the fraternal function - can help from horizontal identifications. In his words, “[...] it is in the horizontal circulation that the possibility is created, for the subjects, of the development of secondary identificatory traits essential to allow the diversification of choices of destinations” (p. 43). In addition, they serve as support for the new reality in which the subject finds himself and that was revealed by the changes in his own body.

It can be said that there is a situation of vulnerability that is typical of adolescence, since crossing the world from childhood to the adult world implies losses, and the work of elaborating mourning is fundamental not only as a child, but also as ideals linked to the first identifications founded within the family. The transformation in the plane of loving objects that occurs in the oedipal reissue has as a consequence the reworking of the instances derived from it - the superego in its dimension of censor and ideal. Coutinho (2009COUTINHO, Luciana Gageiro. Adolescência e Errância: destinos do laço social no contemporâneo. Rio de Janeiro: Nau, FAPERJ, 2009.) points out that when identifications falter - whether in adolescence or at other times in life - the ideal of the self needs to be reedited. In this sense, the re-elaboration of ideals becomes essential in the transition from adolescence, as it has the function of allowing an idea of oneself and guiding the subject in existence by serving as a reference for the paths of desire (Coutinho, 2005COUTINHO, Luciana Gageiro. A Adolescência na Contemporaneidade: ideal cultural ou sintoma social? Pulsional Revista de Psicanálise, v. 181, n. 3, p. 16-24, 2005.; Lacadée, 2011LACADÉE, Philippe. O Despertar e o Exílio: ensinamentos psicanalíticos da mais delicada das transições, a adolescência. Rio de Janeiro: Contra Capa Livraria, Opção Lacaniana, 2011.).

However, the specificity of these young people of the camerata concerns the incidence in their subjectivities of two types of vulnerability and, therefore, a psychic work in the face of two helplessness: one of the adolescent conditions, in which the dimension of the loss is significant, and the other one itself the situation of social vulnerability in which they find themselves. It is a youth that also suffers from the State’s helplessness, in the sense of a lack of guarantees for the basics - such as study, health, housing and possibilities of coming and going - in addition to being at the mercy of the daily violence present in the communities. they live in.

From the above, it is possible to understand that youth is marked by a strong uncertainty of the future, in which unemployment, for example, always seems to be lurking. Such a prospect of such an uncertain future, or even the deprivation of a future, leads us to think of an increase in the helplessness experienced, which may even hinder the mourning work necessary to leave the record of the loss and construction of a future (Siniscalchi, 2019SINISCALCHI, Marcella Bueno Brandão. Adolescência e Luto: a escrita de Fanfictions na contemporaneidade. 2019. 113 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Psicologia) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2019.).

Listening to the Camerata

The first contact made with our research team was made by one of the NGO’s coordinators. According to him, the signaling of the need for a psychologist to accompany the camerata came from the conductor of the group of young musicians who make up the camerata. The group, made up of about fifteen young people between the ages of 15 and 25, is mostly from Morro dos Macacos, a community located in the north of Rio de Janeiro, where one of the nuclei of this project of collective teaching of classical music works.

Before starting work with the young people, we paid a visit to the space, when we were surprised by the reception we had: in the lobby, a large group was waiting for us for a special presentation. This was our first contact with the participants of the social project. After the unexpected reception, the functioning of the institution was clarified by those responsible. Based on the data presented, the intervention could be structured. It is worth mentioning that the construction of the intervention proposal with young people was marked by two moments. The first one, lasting 3 weeks, consisted of a period of participating observations. From the collected content, the second moment was then delimited. During the meetings, a field diary was produced. This form of recording, based on our observations, was an important tool for systematizing the experiences for analyzing the results posteriori.

From the first day on which we were introduced to the students, we started to be present at the rehearsals and made ourselves available for specific individual visits in a room that was given to us by the project coordinator. Throughout the initial weeks, we became known to the group and, although the reasons for approximations were different, curiosity about our presence on a specific day of the week caught the attention of children and adolescents. One of the NGO’s employees says she was asked by the children about the psychologist’s work. To explain, she constructed a metaphor that defines the psychologist as a box of secrets. Among the teenagers, the dialogue started from inquiries about college, such as the case of a young man who says he finds psychology an interesting course and complements saying that he would like to study to understand the different behaviors of those who are on the hill and on the asphalt.

Still during the moment of participating observations, we talked to the conductor who had asked for our presence to accompany his group, the young camerata, and he revealed to us that, many times, they lose great students due to the fact that they need to have an adult life when they are still children or teenagers, and that most think that if they go to talk to psychologists, it is because they are going crazy. He also told us that many boys and girls in the project are going to talk and ask for help from him. At the end of the conversation, the conductor says he wants to participate in our proposed intervention for the youth group of the camerata and reinforces that our help is very important, considering that the students feel ashamed of looking for us individually and, at the same time, revealing their concern with pictures of depression and anxiety among the participants of the camerata, as well as their expectations in relation to being able to help the students to understand these pictures.

Considering the dialogue reported above, along with the data collected during the participant observations, the second moment was constructed. We opted for a collective intervention modality, called Tá na roda (“It’s in the wheel”). This is a proposal for working with groups, which has been developed since 2015, aiming to explore the effects of psychoanalytic listening when applied in social contexts. It is a structured device in order to favor the circulation of the word, promoting discussions on issues raised by the participants and, mainly, enabling mutual listening and the strengthening of the community (Klautau; Macedo, 2018KLAUTAU, Perla; MACEDO, Maria Manuela Dias Ramos de. Construção de Dispositivos de Escuta Para Jovens em Busca de um Futuro Profissional: impasses e apostas da psicanálise em extensão. Tempo Psicanalítico, v. 50, n. 2, p. 245-264, 2018.; Mano et al., 2019MANO, Beatriz Chacur et al. Roda de Conversa: espaço para jovens em situação de vilnerabilidade social. In: DADOORIAN, Diana; FAGUNDES, Laura Maria Reis; PEREIRA, Claudia Rodrigues (Org.). Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro: 50 anos. Rio de Janeiro: Círculo Psicanalítico, 2019. P. 145-150.).

For the realization of Tá na roda, five meetings were scheduled. However, for institutional reasons, that number has been reduced to four. From the analysis of our field diary, it was possible to identify some specificities in the group movement, which we divided into three stages: the first, repair for concert; the second, tuning the instruments; and finally, there is no one suit orchestra.

For the operation of Tá na roda to operate among young people, it was important to explain what motivated the creation of the activity, the importance of maintaining confidentiality and the fact that it is a space for exchange, therefore, there is no right or wrong. In addition, it was also necessary to present some points that facilitate the operation, such as: maintaining the space, sitting in a circle and the schedule. This was the north of the first meeting, which included the presentation of the proposal, the participants and the group coordinators and the reading of the Participant Informed Consent Form (ICF). The way we should present ourselves came from the young people themselves, suggesting that we say name, age, if we do what we love and, in their case, the reason for choosing an instrument.

In the first meeting, it was possible to identify a strong bond of friendship, especially among the veterans, who were already friends even before the start of the social project and have participated since its foundation. One of them reports that, at the time of enrollment at the NGO, the choice of the instrument was motivated by the union between them: there were four vacancies to study viola and there were four friends. We chose to be together and have fun. We ended up liking it and we are still in the project together today.

Despite the harmony existing in the group, there was an inequality between the oldest and those who recently entered, in other words, a latent conflict between the veterans and the newcomers, as if the former comprised a central nucleus. In addition, it was possible to observe a disagreement on the part of the veterans regarding the form of leadership exercised by the conductor, which, according to the most experienced, should be less horizontal. To better understand the functioning of the group, it is important to know that the camerata is based on a hierarchy, in which the conductor is the main figure, acting as leader of the group, and, following him, are the heads of suit of each instrument, who are responsible for conducting in the absence of the former.

Respect for hierarchy emerges as a difficulty, especially with regard to the participants’ ages. Sometimes I need to give orders, as I am head of my suit, but at the same time, I am younger than the other who is receiving the instructions. At this point, the group agrees with the question raised, which is not shared when another adversity arises: failures in internal communication. The very lack of knowledge by most of those present, points to the existence of a subgroup formed by the oldest and, hierarchically, the most important. The rest state that a lot of what happens is left in this group and we don’t even know about it.

At this point, it is important to emphasize that the demand for psychologists’ work came from the teacher of the camerata, who, in turn, occupies a unique position in the group: he is, at the same time, leader and participant of the group. That is, hierarchically, or thinking vertically, he occupies a superior position, even though during the participation of Tá na roda he positioned himself horizontally, as another member of the small orchestra. This position was a recurring theme during the intervention, which will be taken up more specifically in the next section of this article.

During the first meeting, the young people were very receptive and relaxed in the presence of the professionals. They asked questions about the profession, curious about what it is like to work listening to people. They quickly included us in the activities of the camerata, asking for help, as they were going crazy, due to an important concert scheduled for two months after our first meeting. This presentation involved an interstate trip, which was presented as a factor of great pressure. As a solution, they say let’s buy four more tickets, you stay there having a beer, so we don’t get killed. The group would then be demanding that the psychologists repair for concert schedule?

The expectation that the psychologists - powerfully - would, at last, fix the group for the concert that they would do in a few months was a recurring appeal made by them to different figures who alternated. Around the theme of the trip for the presentation of the young camerata, some versions of all-powerful appeared, such as the figure of a hero, who can save (the group of psychologists, for example) and of an all-powerful seeing, giving opportunities, but also abandons (the sponsors, sponsors, and project managers). Throughout the meetings, it was possible to perceive, even, that the group’s dissatisfaction and their complaints directed to the leadership exercised by the conductor also related to the idea of a powerful figure who can save them, which led us to consider that the helplessness inherent in the adolescence can be increased, enhanced, by the specificity of the situation of social vulnerability.

The demand for repair for concert reveals a kind of return to a primordial appeal addressed to a body that has the possibility, in Freudian terms, of carrying out a specific action that the subject, in a state of helplessness, is not in a position to carry out (Freud, 1999FREUD, Sigmund. Projeto para uma Psicologia Científica. In: FREUD, Sigmund . Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. I). Rio de Janeiro: Imago , 1999. P. 341-481. [1950/1895].; 1996a). In this context, the German word Hilflosigkeit, translated into Portuguese as helplessness, names a state of insufficiency and impotence that characterizes the primordial condition of the human being in the world. Such a situation can also configure a state that can be reissued in adolescence. When the sleeping infant is awakened by the imposition of the pubescent body, a disturbing strangeness is established: the young person no longer recognizes himself from the eyes of his parents, which brings with it a state of helplessness. With the onset of puberty, the subject is assaulted by a crossing marked by the urgency that it is necessary to change and, at the same time, remain the same. Thus, in order to move towards the world of adults, it is necessary to renounce a part of oneself or, ultimately, the condition of child dependence. By dropping a part of himself in order to guarantee his survival in the face of the risk of being lost due to having so much to change, the subject adolesce. With this, a mourning work is engendered in order to give meaning to the re-elaboration of ideals in adolescence. The work of mourning the loss of an ideal in adolescence can be outlined by a movement in which deidealization /disillusion and new idealizations/illusions alternate that make it possible to encounter new objects. It is, therefore, a time of tension between mourning and the creation of new illusions (Siniscalchi, 2019SINISCALCHI, Marcella Bueno Brandão. Adolescência e Luto: a escrita de Fanfictions na contemporaneidade. 2019. 113 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Psicologia) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2019.).

At the moment when the subject is in full deidealization of parental figures, a process described by Freud (1996bFREUD, Sigmund. Romances Familiares. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. IX). Rio de Janeiro: Imago , 1996b. P. 217-222. [1909/1908]; 1996cFREUD, Sigmund. Algumas Reflexões sobre a Psicologia do Escolar. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. XIII). Rio de Janeiro: Imago , 1996c. P. 251-258. [1914].), and, thus, he moves away from the first influences in the constitution of ideals, he will need to seek new identifying references on the social scene. Freud (1996cFREUD, Sigmund. Algumas Reflexões sobre a Psicologia do Escolar. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. XIII). Rio de Janeiro: Imago , 1996c. P. 251-258. [1914].) demonstrated in the text Some reflections on the schoolboy Psychology, from the relationship with teachers in their own adolescence, the child’s tendency, since the period before puberty, to recover the idealizations of childhood that were concentrated in the figure of the parents, idealizing other objects shared by the culture. He noted that young people seem to seek in the public sphere people who have qualities that refer to their first idealized objects and transfer their admiration to the new objects.

In other words, the disconnection from the first ideal is not done abruptly, nor is it total. If so, the subject could be plunged into deep helplessness since idealized parents occupy a fundamental place in the subject’s own constitution. The disappointment in the relationship with the first ideal and the identifying references also configures a narcissistic wound, so that the resource of idealization seems to be a way for the subject to find new objects to invest and recompose his narcissism. It seems, therefore, to function as a first way of dealing with the frustration involved in this loss.

However, the re-elaboration of ideals in adolescence presupposes that it will be necessary to detach from the omnipotent child ideal that, paradoxically, tries to be rescued by investing in socially shared objects. That is to say, at first, these new objects found in the social are only substitutes for the idealized parents. It will then be in this insertion of the subject in the social field in a broader way that a work of elaboration can provoke a transformation in what was originally constituted within the family.

From the fall of the idealization of the parents, and, with the disappointment in the oedipal promise, the overcoming of the ideal self (of omnipotent character) for the establishment of an ideal of the self is made possible by the insertion of the subject in social exchanges, which causes a change in the relationship with the socio-symbolic field (Coutinho, 2009COUTINHO, Luciana Gageiro. Adolescência e Errância: destinos do laço social no contemporâneo. Rio de Janeiro: Nau, FAPERJ, 2009.). Thus, the passage of adolescence presupposes a work of elaboration around the lack and castration. About this, Alberti (2004ALBERTI, Sonia. O Adolescente e o Outro. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2004.) affirms that in adolescence there is a call to start a work of elaborating choices and the lack of the Other - the socio-symbolic field. This type of elaboration, when it is crossed by situations of social vulnerability, can imply an increase in the helplessness experienced by the adolescent condition. One of the possible consequences of carrying out subjectivity work in precarious conditions concerns a difficulty in carrying out the necessary mourning to get out of the register of loss and building a future. In this sense, it is possible to observe a kind of paralysis in the face of situations of loss, which find in the record of the appeal a way out for the lack of perspective in face of what is to come and, even, in the use of their own potential.

Fine-tuning the Instruments: from the insufficiency of the self to the social bond

Despite the atmosphere during the meetings being relaxed and permeated by laughter, there were several moments of anguish. Such occasions revealed a sense of hopelessness that was shared by the group from the idea of giving and taking, enjoying playing with being God. Behind the complaints brought about the presence and absence of financial investments for the social project, it was possible to understand the existence of a shared feeling of abandonment and insufficiency. However, these are not the only affects in relation to the power played by economic capital. The ambivalence of feelings is easily identified, when the participants affirm the essential role of financing for the existence of the group: without sponsorship there would be no instruments, nor the space.

After this observation, the confusion regarding feelings appears before the other authority figure, that of the conductor. If, on the one hand, recognition of its importance is unanimous, on the other hand, many accuse him of not knowing how to position himself according to the function he occupies. It was the boy who founded the camerata at the Morro dos Macacos unit, just over a year earlier. The rise achieved is unquestionable, as in that short time they left, according to the words of one of the members, of presentations in public day-care centers for snotty nose children, arriving at the best room in Rio de Janeiro. Even so, they point out that the positions of friend and conductor are confused, leading to a lack of respect for their position as leader.

The accusations brought by the young people again point to a certain helplessness, reaching the recognition of a certain orphanhood. They themselves agreed to feel a bit without father or mother, since the figures of power ended up not occupying the functions, of protection and protection.

Was the demand for the repair an appeal to psychoanalysts to fulfill this role? It is believed so! Furthermore, it is understood that the fact of not complying with the request served as fuel for the promotion of a displacement: from the repair to the tuning. This allows us to understand that the position taken by the psychoanalysts allowed the recognition of the potential within the group itself, strengthening the internal bonds.

In this way, the group movement during our intervention in the sense of mourning the loss of an omnipotent child ideal is evident. The recognition of helplessness was a key point so that more powerful exits could be glimpsed, promoting a shift in the accusations towards the characteristics that hold the group together.

There is no One Suit Orchestra: the power of the collective in the face of anguish

Judith Butler (2018BUTLER, Judith. Quadros de Guerra: quando a vida é passível de luto? Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2018.), in the introduction to her book Frames of War: when is life grievable?, asks the following question: “[...] what is a life?” (p. 14). To present her discussion, the author starts from the idea that life is not given beforehand, but that it is the result of a production. That is, in order to be, or to become a subject, the existence of a living body is not enough, requiring support networks of their fellowmen.

Even though precariousness is an existential condition for all humanity, that is, we all depend on sociability networks, Butler (2018BUTLER, Judith. Quadros de Guerra: quando a vida é passível de luto? Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2018.) states that, although there is a cross between precariousness and precarious condition, there is a fundamental difference between both: the fact that the second is socially manufactured.

The precarious condition designates the politically induced condition in which certain populations suffer from poor social and economic support networks [...]. The precarious condition also characterizes the politically induced condition of maximizing precariousness for populations exposed to arbitrary state violence that often have no option but to resort to the very state against which they need protection (p. 46).

The scenario presented leads us to reflect on what, then, would be the possible alternatives for groups in such precarious conditions. If for Butler (2018BUTLER, Judith. Quadros de Guerra: quando a vida é passível de luto? Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2018.) the solutions are around coalitions, we understand that the bet of psychoanalysis in the collective scope is a powerful alternative based on the potentiation of a discourse that supports new possibilities of social ties for these subjects.

During the proposed activity, it was very interesting to see, especially in the last two meetings, the young people recognizing themselves as a group, each with their uniqueness, but that for the camerata to work, everyone was needed there. From a conversation about the formation of the group having taken place through partnership, it was possible, therefore, to differentiate between partnership and dependence. This dialogue allowed them to talk about the relationships that occur in a vertical way, that is, of power, when one depends on the other, and horizontally, when there is unity, and all parts grow together. In possession of these concepts, thinking about the functioning of the camerata, they understand that one suit depends on the other, but that the relationship between them, musicians, is one of partnership. Therefore, each component has its importance, and all are essential for the concert to take place.

If, in a moment, the circulation of the word took on an accusatory tone, especially on the part of those more engaged in the project, who complained about the absences or lack of commitment of some, towards the end of the activity, the complaints stopped being the engine for the functioning of the group, becoming a listening to personal experiences. One participant says that she has other activities besides the project, she still studies and works, because she needs to help support the house. Another said that she needs to take care of her grandmother, while a third participant is going through an eviction situation, needing to find a home. The singularities that make up the group emerge and, among them, start looking for strategies to weave networks that enable them to support each other.

As soon as we close the last meeting, the conductor asks for the floor and thanking us for his participation, explains that he asked for our presence precisely because he thought the opportunity for everyone to hear each other was important. He says that he is in a position to try to manage the situations that arise, understanding the adversities experienced by each one. Although he is sometimes seen as a low-energy leader, he points out that, first of all, they are friends. In his words, friendship is what sets this group apart. When people listen to us, they feel a different energy. And, if that gets lost, we become just any group.

It was interesting to see the relevance of the friendship pointed out by the main figure of this group of young people, since in adolescence, this bond of social life has a very specific role. Friendship, in this stage of elaboration of psychic life, serves as a propellant for the loosening of primary relationships, inaugurating a possible construction of autonomy of thought and speech (Brun, 2007BRUN, Danièle. A Gramática Amorosa da Amizade. Ágora: estudos em teoria psicanalítica, v. 10, n. 2, p. 311-319, 2007. ). In this sense, Barretto (2019BARRETTO, Flavia Cavalcanti. Tecendo ‘Nós’: um estudo psicanalítico sobre a amizade entre jovens em contexto de violências extremas. 2019. 142 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Psicologia Clínica) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia Clínica, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, Recife, 2019.) proposes us to reflect on the subversiveness existing in the strength of friendship, considering its potential for “[...] social and individual transformation, capable of producing other forms of sociability, in which plurality, dissent and the conflict itself are drivers of collective life” (p. 14).

At the end of the work, it was possible for the participants to recognize that there is something very strong and special that unites them: friendship. Even so, singularities do not cease to exist. On the contrary, it is the union of collectivities, combined with the strengthening of a network of mutual support, that allows its existence, which, looking back afterwards, may even seem obvious, after all: there is no one suit orchestra!

Final Considerations

In view of the reality and challenges of Brazilian education, the choice for the construction of an analytical listening device in the collective was based on the fact that they operate in order to enhance the bonds between the subjects, so loosened by the individualizing and excluding logic of contemporary society. Especially in contexts marked by social vulnerability, the creation of spaces whose main tool is listening to the unconscious is part of the action strategy when group activities are developed. The positive impacts resulting from such actions, as a result of the broadening of the applicability of psychoanalysis, aiming especially at its use in social spaces, are highlighted by several psychoanalysts, with an emphasis on extrapolating the clinical scope, even producing political effects (Rosa, 2013ROSA, Miriam Debieux. Psicanálise Implicada Vicissitudes das Práticas Clinicopolíticas. Revista da Associação Psicanalítica de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, v. 41, p. 29-40, 2013.; Broide; Broide, 2016BROIDE, Jorge; BROIDE, Emilia Estivalet. A Psicanálise em Situações Sociais Críticas: metodologia clínica e intervenções. São Paulo: Editora Escuta, 2016.; Barreto, 2019).

Returning to Paulo Freire’s ideas, previously presented, we can bring them closer to what was observed during the intervention. The verticality demanded by the participants goes against the logic of banking, oppressive and authoritarian education. In this conception of education, there is no space for dialogue, being an exercise in adapting the subject to the world. It is important to keep in mind that this is the model known to these young people and, therefore, they assimilate it as correct or as it is supposed to be. On the other hand, overcoming the educator-educating dyad allows for a horizontal relationship, which not only humanizes, but also counter-alienates the subjects, promoting reflections on reality and on the world.

Despite the strangeness and discomfort caused in young people when there were no figures occupying the position of domination, whether they were psychoanalysts or conductor, space was opened to emerge the recognition of themselves as conscious and powerful bodies. Just as in liberating education, in which there is a constant circulation of the word between students and educators, in the proposal to articulate education, psychoanalysis and adolescence, we have listening as a tool that underlies the possibility of social transformation.

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  • Editor-in-charge: Fabiana de Amorim Marcello
  • Translated by Sabrina Mendonça Ferreira

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    18 June 2021
  • Date of issue
    2021

History

  • Received
    12 Nov 2020
  • Accepted
    30 Mar 2021
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