Psychoanalysis In Brazil Research Articles

Political Origins of Freudianism and the Neutrality of Psychoanalysis in Brazil as a Symptom

El artículo destaca los orígenes del pensamiento freudiano como el germen del surgimiento del psicoanálisis y, en particular, del descubrimiento del inconsciente como uno de los efectos disruptivos que cambió el curso de la historia de la humanidad. El escrito sugiere que la judeidad de Freud, en la Europa posterior a la ilustración del siglo XIX, permitió una formación intelectual capaz de respaldar impulsos políticos no siempre explícitos en la historia de la teoría psicoanalítica. Al seguir el camino de la construcción de conexiones con la polis, establecido por las primeras generaciones de analistas europeos en la llamada Viena Roja de la década de 1920 (Danto, 2019), las autoras establecen vínculos entre el psicoanálisis y la política. Por último, se discuten los efectos sintomáticos del borrado de la dimensión política, a través de la supuesta neutralidad del movimiento psicoanalítico en Brasil y, especialmente, en el contexto de la dictadura brasileña.

A Metodologia na Pesquisa Psicanalítica: Dos Fluxos Transferenciais às Linhagens de Filiação

Abstract The presence of psychoanalytic theory in Brazilian Universities is no surprise; however, the creation of Graduate Programs in psychoanalysis has highlighted the issue of research. This paper comes to join the debate on the legitimacy of academic research in psychoanalysis in Brazil, especially regarding its methodological specificity. In highlighting four historical moments, we sought to identify transference flows, which cross the analyzed texts, and to outline lineages of affiliation related to academic research in this discipline. Although the psychoanalytic method escapes the demands of university, psychoanalysts engage in efforts to propose methodologies with their own theoretical and clinical assumptions. The presence of psychoanalysis in Brazilian academy has allowed advances that would otherwise have been impossible given the differences between the demands of university and psychoanalytic institutions.

La psychanalyse au Brésil

L’auteure propose un aperçu des caractéristiques de la psychanalyse au Brésil avec ses différentes sociétés, en analysant principalement trois d’entre elles : São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro et Porto Alegre. Elle souligne le contexte social et les influences théoriques qui ont marqué la pratique analytique dans le pays.

‘He Didn't Even Know There Was a Dictatorship’: The Complicity of a Psychoanalyst with the Brazilian Military Regime

The history of psychoanalysis in Brazil during the civilian–military dictatorship (1964–85) has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as an instance of institutional complicity with authoritarian rule. The case of Amílcar Lobo in Rio de Janeiro is now well known. However, there is less documentation of events in São Paulo, leading to a misrepresentation of the Brazilian Psychoanalytical Society of São Paulo as having passed relatively unscathed through the dictatorial period. This paper confronts this misrepresentation by documenting the case of a psychoanalyst from São Paulo who was involved with the torture regime. A detailed account is presented of claims made to the authors about the actions of this psychoanalyst in relation to a political prisoner of the period, and some parallels are made with material in two published works by him. It is suggested that this particular psychoanalyst's behaviour reflects attitudes prevalent in the Brazilian Psychoanalytical Society of São Paulo at the time, including its support for the view that political resistance was a sign of psychological ‘immaturity’ or pathology.

A peste no Brasil: a introdução das ideias freudianas no Brasil a partir da medicina e do modernismo

Resumo: Apresenta-se o momento histórico da entrada da teoria freudiana no Brasil como um processo que esteve intimamente relacionado às demandas da intelligentsia nacional em seu esforço de construção do projeto de nação que ecoava no país desde o final do século XIX. Ao identificarmos as duas vias discursivas de apropriação da psicanálise no Brasil, a medicina higienista e a arte modernista brasileira, pretendemos, neste estudo, indicar os traços que esses pontos de ancoragem deixaram no processo de construção do movimento psicanalítico nacional.

‘No memory, no desire’: Psychoanalysis in Brazil during Repressive Times

Until recently, the growth and significance of Brazilian psychoanalysis has been neglected in histories of psychoanalysis. Not only is this history long and rich in its professional and cultural dimensions, but there was an especially important ‘event’ – the so-called ‘Cabernite-Lobo affair’ – that took place during the period of the military dictatorship, which can be seen as dramatizing some of the issues concerning the erasure of memory in psychoanalysis, especially in connection with political difficulties. In this paper, we provide an outline of the origins and dissemination of psychoanalysis in Brazil before looking again at the Cabernite-Lobo affair in order to examine in a situated way how psychoanalysis engages with political extremism, and particularly to explore the consequences of an unthinking generalization of the idea of ‘neutrality’ from the consulting room to the institutional setting. We draw especially on Brazilian papers in Portuguese, which have not been accessible in the English-language psychoanalytic literature.

Psychology and Psychoanalysis in Brazil

This paper focuses first on cultural syncretism, used to characterize Brazilian culture. The other aspect of this socially and racially blended culture is the unfinished assimilation of liberalism in politics and the economy, which defines Brazilian society. The increased assimilation and dissemination of psychology may be linked with these in cultural and social aspects. During the military period (1964-1974) the major expansion in university-level studies in psychology contributed ideologically to the dissemination of psychology throughout Brazilian society. This introduced a type of psychology that was related primarily to clinical practice and developed in opposition to social work practice. This paper examines the ideological bases for this conflict between clinical and social work. Criteria for understanding the cultural dissemination of psychoanalysis are then discussed, and it is argued that cultural incorporation of psychoanalysis involves the development of discourse complexes to reflect particular aspects of Brazilian society. The criteria (a non-totalitarian society and the displacement of a magical and religious interpretation of mental disturbance by psychiatric interpretation) are evaluated in relation to the peculiarities of Brazilian syncretism. The paper argues that cultural syncretism and the incomplete assimilation of liberal ideology must be included as criteria in understanding the particular cultural incorporation of psychoanalysis in Brazil.

Psychoanalysis in Brazil - Institutionalization and Dissemination among the Lay Public

In this article I attempt to present and discuss two different periods of the dissemination of psychoanalysis in Brazil, both in the professional milieu and among the lay public. The first period, in the early 20th century, concerns the reception of Freud's ideas in the two largest Brazilian cities - Rio and São Paulo. The second period consists of the last thirty years of the century and refers to the so-called "psychoanalytic boom" that took place during the darkest years of the military dictatorship, focusing on Rio of Janeiro, where the effects were more visible. I intend to examine and discuss the specific characteristics of these two periods of propagation, trying to understand the success of the psychoanalytic "cosmological view" in the context of the Brazilian learned middle classes. I conclude the article with a few reflections on the post-psychoanalytic period we are now living.

As influências da psicanálise na educação brasileira no início do século XX

O presente artigo tem por objetivo discutir, a partir de um vértice histórico, a relação entre educação e psicanálise no Brasil. Partindo de um estudo qualitativo, fundamentado na análise bibliográfica relativa à produção psicanalítica dedicada à educação produzida no país nas primeiras décadas do século XX, são discutidas as contribuições da psicanálise na transformação das práticas educacionais. Os resultados indicam que a psicanálise esteve presente na educação de duas formas: inicialmente, pela divulgação de informações teóricas relativas aos conceitos psicanalíticos e às características do desenvolvimento emocional da criança, por intermédio de livros e cursos destinados a educadores, e, posteriormente, através da criação de uma prática de assistência ao escolar com problemas de aprendizagem ou comportamento, desenvolvida em clínicas de orientação infantil, que consistia na avaliação da criança e na orientação de pais e professores. Conclui-se que a psicanálise, enquanto fundamento teórico e prático, forneceu elementos que contribuíram para a sustentação dos pressupostos filosóficos da "Escola Nova", que surgiu, a partir da década de 1920, como alternativa ao ensino tradicional.

Religião e psicanálise no Brasil contemporâneo: novas e velhas Weltanschauungen

The role of psychoanalysis in Brazil both as a knowledge and as an institution has changed considerably since the end of the 1970s, when its prestige in the social and cultural life of the country had reached its acme. Several recent analyses describe a growingly decentralized, diversified and complex situation; alongside a proliferation of religious and para-religious resources. That process was more obviously connected to the New Age movements, considered as typical of middle-classes, as a variant of psychological culture. The recent growth of Pentecostal sects, mostly in the lower classes, seemed to obey to other cultural premises. Yet, more recently, the emergence of an intense dialogue between Protestantism and Pentecostalism, on one side, and psychoanalysis, on the other, claimed for new research investment. Here, the research by Carvalho on that specific topic and the work by Duarte on the dynamics of religious and lay cosmologies in contemporary Brazil allow for a new integrated interpretation.

Becoming (and Remaining) an Analyst in Latin America

The following overview of the development of psychoanalysis in Brazil and in Porto Alegre outlines the current situation and the challenges to psychoanalysis in my country. I will explain my own experiences on becoming an analyst, the main reasons for my choice, my main influences, and my evolution as a clinical psychoanalyst and as a member of psychoanalytic and psychiatric institutions. I include my main contributions to psychoanalysis and consider two broad areas of interest: psychoanalytic technique and its teaching, and the relationship of psychoanalysis and culture. As for the former, my main interests are studies on countertransference and analytic neutrality, to which I will propose a comprehensive concept. As for the latter, I discuss a culture that contrasts vividly with the one in which Freud created the discipline, psychoanalytic views on violence and perversity, psychoanalytic institutions, and the application of analytic ideas for the understanding of some artists and their work. I will also describe some general features of my country and the development of psychoanalysis in it; report my experiences as a candidate and an analyst; and offer some information about my evolution as an analyst through papers I have written over the past 30 years.

Psychoanalysis and University in Brazil: Possibilities and Limits of This Articulation

The goal of this article is to clarify some of the aspects concerning the academic teaching and research that is carried out in the field of psychoanalysis in the Brazilian Universities, versus the transmission and training in psychoanalytic institutions. The author describes how psychoanalysis is present in the Brazilian university context, from undergraduate to graduate studies, and also points out perspectives regarding the future of psychoanalysis in Brazil.