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Vol. 43 No. 2 (2023)
Revista Portuguesa de Psicanálise

Fundamentos

A psicanálise e a terceira posição: convulsões sociais e atrocidade

https://doi.org/10.51356/rpp.432a4

Published 2023-12-31

  • Sverre Varvin

Sverre Varvin
Sociedade Psicanalítica Norueguesa

Abstract

Psychoanalysis and the third position: social upheavals and atrocity

Many situations are now characterized by breakdown of order and structure leaving people at the peril of unorganized forces (war-machines, human traffickers etc.) with dehumanizing of ordinary people on a mass-scale as consequence, especially in the refugee field. The paper focuses how alienating discourses on “trauma” and societies neglect of traumatized people increases suffering and have grave consequences for coming generations. It is reflected on which ways psychoanalysis may represent a mediating function in relation to regressive processes on individual, group, and societal levels. A conceptualization of a third position from which psychoanalysis can work is developed. The third position is seen as inevitable in psychoanalytic clinical work in that symbolization and working though must be anchored in a common cultural discourse. A model for rethinking traumatization is proposed that develops the conception of the third position in relations to a broader filed and encompasses the subject’s relations in a dyadic, bodily-affective relations, in relations to the group and family, and in relation to culture and discourse. This model may lay ground for an understanding of how atrocities, social catastrophes like collective traumatization can be worked through on individual and social levels. Clinical examples are presented to illuminate these processes.

Keywords

traumatization, third, body, group, speech

PDF (Português)

Author Biography

Sverre Varvin

Psiquiatra, Psicanalista didata da Sociedade Psicanalítica Norueguesa, Professor emérito na Universidade de Oslo, pela qual se doutorou com a tese intitulada Mental survival strategies after extreme traumatisation.Vencedor do The Sigourney Award, que reconhece contribuições significativas para o campo da Psicanálise.

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