A consideração positiva incondicional de plantonistas iniciantes por meio de figuras de alteridade

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to understand the exercise of unconditional positive regard (UPR) by beginning on-duty therapists at the Psychology school-service of the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) through the figures of alterity present in their narratives. This is an empirical study of a qualitative and phenomenological nature that advances the literature on UPR from the perspective of the Person-Centered Approach (PCA), as well as in the literature on Psychological Duty as a contemporary clinical practice. It is anchored in the understanding of UPR as an ethical positioning of openness and respect for otherness. In this context, the figures of alterity are elements that indicate a posture, on the part of the therapist, of openness in relation to the other and to the difference manifested by this other. The context of data collection was the psychological duty service of the aforementioned university. The participants were six students of the Estágio I and Estágio II disciplines of the Psychology course at UFC who chose to provide psychological duty services from the PCA perspective. The researcher held individual dialogic meetings with the interns, which took place in person and lasted an average of one hour. After each meeting, a comprehensive narrative was prepared, expressing impressions, feelings and ideas that impacted the researcher when being with the participant and which were later discussed with a group of researchers. Once the construction of all the individual narratives was completed, a narrative synthesis was prepared containing the main elements that structure the phenomenon investigated. The elements that make up the perspectives of the beginning therapists about what UPR is and the impact of otherness on the challenge of sustaining this attitude were listed. Finally, four figures of alterity were arrived at: the Human Other, the Responsible Other, the Opening Other and the Understanding Other. As a main contribution, we highlight the identification of a responsibility towards the other that makes up UPR as recognition, which is expressed in the figures of alterity, the Responsible Other and experienced in a radical way in the psychological duty service. Additionally, empathic understanding is reclaimed as a way of reaching/being affected by the other.