Compreensão e modos de lidar com o racismo nas práticas de psicólogos(as) clínicos(as), que atuam na cidade de Salvador, Bahia: uma visão psicanalítica.

Abstract

BOSCHETTI, Daniela Abate. Understanding and ways of dealing with Racism in the practices of clinical psychologists working in the city of Salvador, Bahia: a psychoanalytic view. 2024. Master’s thesis (Master’s in Psychology) – Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, 2024. 108 p.

ABSTRACT The present study aims to investigate how the practice of clinical psychologists has been dealing with racial relations, reflecting how racism and whiteness affects the clinical work and how the professionals deal with this important issue today. In this direction, we approach the theoretical discussion on racism, in which we seek to make a brief historical and conceptual review on the subject and then we focus on whiteness, also reviewing the history and concept. After, we conducted a review of Brazilian literature in the CAPES’S database, using the keywords: race, racism and clinical psychology, this review indicates that there is a growing number of studies on racial relations in health practices, including psychologists and psychoanalysts, but much still needs to be investigated, both for the relevance of the theme, and for the scarcity of findings. Then we develop the theoretical foundation, using as a basis the Group Subject Psychoanalysis postulated by René Kaës. The author assumes that the subject is necessarily the subject of the bond. The main concepts presented in our theoretical foundation are: the unconscious alliances, which according to the author, exist from the bond, are present in the life of the subject from the beginning, giving shape and support to the processes of identification, form through their inscription the intersubjective link, which becomes consistent and also and execute the work of connection between the subjectivities of each subject and the concept of narcissistic pacts, where the author discusses how the individual’s narcissism solicits and forms alliances with the members of a group and in general. These concepts provide the basis for studies by several authors on the understanding of racial relations in our time. The method involved qualitative research that was used in case study strategy. We conducted open interviews with eight clinical psychologists who work in the city of Salvador, Bahia, in public and/ or private devices, chosen by their interest and sensitivity to the theme. Thus, we seek to meet the general objective of this research: understand how racism is perceived by clinical psychologists in Salvador, Bahia, in their professional performance and what are the coping strategies used. The data was analyzed by putting in dialogue the theoretical framework with the literature review from the strategy of thematic analysis. The results point to changes in clinical management with regard to racial relations, they are organized in three chapters. In the first, entitled: "Conception of psychologists on racism from a socio-historical and psychological point of view", in which we focus on the socio-historical construction of racism, specifically in the city of Salvador, Bahia, reflecting how this construction constitutes in part the psyche of individuals and impacts on the clinical work of the professionals who work in this city. In the second chapter, entitled: "Subjective and intersubjective processes involved in dealing with racism", we seek to understand the subjective and intersubjective processes of the professionals interviewed and their clinical practice, using for analysis the concept of unconscious alliances built by René Kaës and the advances of these, elaborated by Cida Bento and Eliane Costa, with regard to racial relations. In the last chapter, entitled: "Racism and whiteness in clinical practice", we reflect how racism and whiteness are presented in the clinical practice of a psychologist. We were able to think about the individual and collective paths, and realize that there have been changes in the understanding of the topic, which are unfolding in clinical practice, and note the advances in managing the repercussions and psychological suffering caused by racism. The professionals demonstrated understanding and consequently clinical interventions on transferential processes of racial relations, analysis and interpretations of this content, promoting mental health and openness to a clinical work that is at the service of life. We highlight the contributions of this research with the demonstration of how advances in racial literacy of professionals contributed to generate changes in listening and repositioning clinical psychology as a place of reappropriation, historical reparation and ethical reorientation, through the subjective dimension of the subjects, towards clinical work that brings emotional development and advances in racial equity.