Dinâmicas semióticas no processo de autolesão em adolescentes

Abstract

This research investigates self-injury in adolescents without suicidal intent. To favor the understanding of the phenomenon of self-injury in adolescence, a perspective based on Cultural Semiotic Psychology was adopted. The research´s general objective was to understand and analyze the semiotic dynamics involved in the process of self-injury in adolescents. The specific objectives were: a) To identify and analyze the senses and meanings related to self-injury in adolescents; b) To describe and analyze the main points of tension and ambivalence reported by adolescents who experience or have experienced self-injury practices; c) To analyze how adolescents who experience or have experienced self-injury practices give meaning to their own bodies; d) To analyze the semiotic strategies of self-regulation involved in the self-injury process in adolescents. The qualitative and idiographic approach was utilized for this research. Three adolescents, aged sixteen and seventeen, who were attending high school, were interviewed by means of a Comprehensive Interview. The ethical procedures provided by Resolutions n. 510, of April 7, 2016, and 466/2012, of the CNS (Brazil. MS, 2012, 2016), were respected. The study showed that the feelings most referred to when faced with self-injury were anguish, pain, emptiness, and anxiety. Four units (or axes) of analysis were organized: 1) The continuous process of construction of meanings; 2) The emergence of meanings through ambivalence; 3) My body communicates what I feel. 4) You can let me solve it by myself. These units point to the fact that meaning is configured as a complex sign characterized by duality between what one is and what one could be. For the adolescents, self-injury produces an ambiguous feeling of discomfort and, at the same time, relief. For the adolescent participants, the experience of the body is like the creative field of meaning, expression of feelings, and subjectivity. They trace their emotions in their bodies so they can remember and, at the same time, they can forget. The practice of self-injury expresses, above all, a cry for help.