Fratura psíquica : o impacto da violência no psiquismo das crianças da favela

Abstract

The critical situation in which the greater part of the capital of Ceará‟s children live – subject to every form of violence – homelessness, precarious educations, child labor, sexual abuse, prostitution, alcoholism, drug abuse, unemployed parents, constitute in one of the most consistent expressions, a dying society. This qualitative investigation aims at understanding the impact of violence upon the psyche of children subjected to it from an early age in a socioeconomic environment of poverty. Twenty-seven subjects from 5 to 12 years of age, of both sexes, residents of Verdes Mares (Green Seas) slum, located in an area east of the city of Fortaleza, participated in the study. From a clinical point of view, aided by one the techniques of content analysis – thematic analysis, where open interviews, games, theatrical enactment as well as projective techniques (drawings) were conducted, and through which significant latent aspects emerged concerning the children‟s psychic structuring. These aspects confirmed the initial hypothesis that these children‟s psyches are being disharmoniously structured and that a “psychic frature” might result, an expression that signals a misstep in the noetic and affective areas of development.