A study of the constitution and the psychopathology of the social bond through clinical indicators: a psychoanalytical approach informed by other disciplines

• Grant number: 03/09687-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2004 - May 31, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Machado Kupfer
• Grantee: Maria Cristina Machado Kupfer
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Leandro de Lajonquière ; Mario Eduardo Costa Pereira ; Sandra Josefina Ferraz Ellero Grisi

Abstract

The present research aims to validate, through some clinical indicators, an approach of the constitution and psychopathology of the social bond. These clinical indicators are built upon theoretical framework of the psychoanalysis, as well as being informed by contributions from the fields of Developmental Psychology, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Education and Speech Therapy. Taking as our starting point the importance of the notion of the social bond in the constitution of the Subject for the Psychoanalysis, our intention is to investigate the usage of some clinical indicators of risk that would enable us to: 1) detect in the first year of life an interruption of the social with the maternal agent; 2) allow a follow-up of the treatment of children and adolescents in whom the disorders derived from this early interruption have already taken place. The usage of clinical indicators is justified by the premise that the establishment of the subjectivity can be verified through indirect effects determined by this establishment. Sub-project 1: some Clinical lndicators of Risk for Child Development (IRDls), observed in the first 18 months of a child' s life, were developed from the psychoanalytical theory. The assumption is that these clinical indicators (IRDls) can be applied by paediatricians and other health professionals of basic care in consultations in health centres and/or basic units and mar be useful for the early detection of psychological and psychiatric disorders of child development. The study will use a design of transversal study followed by a longitudinal study in a sample of 1000 children seen in the paediatric clinic in health centres and/or units in nine Brazilian cities (a total of 11 centres). After the three years of follow-up, the children will be tested to identify psychological or psychiatric disorders and verify the associations with the IRDls. Sub-project 2: it is our intention to verify the effects of psychoanalytic institutional treatment on the increase of social circulation of psychotic children, using clinical indicators for this purpose. The proposed treatment should include devices for promotion of social circulation, such as school inclusion and monitoring, sessions with parents, therapeutic treatment and cooking activities, apart from the traditional treatment devices for theestablishment of the social bond. Ten children who have been diagnosed with DGD and treated will be foIlowed-up at the pré-escola terapêutica lugar de vida, of the University of São Paulo, during the first two years, and a further ten children in the following two years. At the end of each period of treatment, the children will be diagnosed again, using the clinical indicators to localize the changes in the subjective position of the children. (AU)