Free-expression painting studio in the context of suicide: affectivity as evidence of the therapeutic process

• Grant number: 19/02999-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2019
• End date: October 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Andrés Eduardo Aguirre Antúnez
• Grantee: Erika Rodrigues Colombo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, Suicide is one of the three leading causes of death among people aged between 15 and 35 years and was the second leading cause of death among young people aged between 15 to 29 years, worldwide, in the year 2016. Recent cases of suicides among students of the University of São Paulo (USP), at least four, were notified between May and June, in 2018.Starting from mobilizations and discussions inside USP, the Mental Health Office (ESM) was created with the aim of providing graduate and postgraduate students with psychological care before the psychological distress suffered during university education. Among the issues primarily addressed by the ESM, is the question of suicide, its possible causes and its prevention. Despite the wide range of risk factors, suicides are preventable. A prior suicide attempt is the most important isolated predictive factor. Thus, the present project proposes a therapeutic intervention for prevention along with the ESM of USP, for the reception of students who have tried, or at least thought about commit suicide. This intervention will be based on the implementation of a Free-expression Paint Studio, following the methodology developed by the French psychologist Michel Ternoy, in his work of more than twenty years with patients from a psychiatric hospital, using the phenomenon-structural analysis method of Eugène Minkowski. From the experience in the Studio, we also propose to establish a theoretical dialogue with Michel Henry's phenomenology of life, aiming at a better understanding of young university students suffering in the context of suicide. We will also seek to discuss how the group therapy practice of the Studio, developed in the context of caring for people who have tried or thought to commit suicide, can open up new possibilities of understanding, acceptance and prevention in these contexts, contemplating the scope and limits of this work. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

COLOMBO, Erika Rodrigues. Free-expression painting studio in the context of suicide: affectivity as evidence of the therapeutic process. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD) São Paulo.