THE PRACTICE OF SELF-MUTILATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS FROM AN EXISTENCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Self-mutilation and self-injurious acts are a growing practice among adolescents, which has aroused the concern of parents and educators and generated demands for psychologists, whether for the care of the adolescent or the family. Self-harm is a phenomenon understood by psychology as a painful and extreme expression of emotional suffering. The research sought to understand this experience from the specific bibliography on the theme and from Existential Phenomenology inspired by Martin Heidegger, which brings the conception of anguish linked to inauthentic existence, and in Victor Emil Frankl, who outlines the concepts of boredom, apathy and existential emptiness in Logotherapy. Through an interview with a psychologist affiliated with this approach and the analysis of medical records of client cases attended at the Clinical School of Psychology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais - Campus Coração Eucarístico, we sought to know the demand for care of adolescents who self-report, in addition to identifying the reports recorded in the medical records about the experiences that lead to the practice of self-harm adolescents. It was found that this is a multifactorial phenomenon and, generally, it is related to the experience of anguish and the lack of other resources to deal with family and social problems.