METHODOLOGIES USED BY BRAZILIAN PSYCHOANALYSTS IN THEIR WORK WITH PRISONERS

Abstract

A brief analysis of the situation in Brazil's contemporary prison system has shown that the vast majority of prisons are full of problems, mainly due to overcrowding. It is against this backdrop that this study set out to understand the methodologies used by psychoanalysts in their work with inmates, thus seeking to reflect on the role of psychoanalysis in the face of such a problematic situation. The contribution of psychoanalysis to the study of man in his relationship with crime is not new. Freud pointed out an interesting fact: some acts related to forbidden actions, in their execution, brought relief, because the offenders already suffered from an oppressive feeling of guilt, with an unknown origin, so by practicing a bad action, this oppression was attenuated, because then the guilt could be justified. Lacan, on the other hand, discusses the dimension of responsibility as a paradigm in the treatment of criminals. Responsibility implies a relationship with the cause of the act, in other words, which point of subjectivity was touched and produced the act. The psychoanalytic clinic is not specific to each context in which it operates; however, the question is how contemporary psychoanalysts work with psychoanalysis in the prison context, taking into account the singularity of this listening space. The results showed that the practices used by psychoanalysts were: Conversation, Observation, Interactive Narrative, Individual Psychological Care, Reading as Revival and Semi-structured Interviews. The only rule of the psychoanalytic clinic is the free association of ideas, and from there it is open to different ways of working, which can be invented by each analyst, however, there are relevant recommendations for talking about a properly psychoanalytic methodology. The research discusses these issues and points to the importance of publications on analytical listening in different contexts.