O desaparecimento de Vitor para o TDAH: a prescrição e o uso de psicofármacos por uma criança da educação inclusiva em Itaparica - BA

Abstract

Introduction: during the period corresponding to Early Childhood Education and Elementary School I, difficulties in acquiring writing or aspects related to behavior in the classroom can constitute warning signs for children's development. Investigations and evaluations constitute the establishment of a process that can be conducted by professionals from areas increasingly specialized in human development. At this moment, a direction driven by immediacy along with the centralization of medical discourse can result in the process known as medicalization. Objectives: this study had the general objective of analyzing the indication and use of psychotropic drugs by a child with school complaints attended at the Specialized Educational Assistance Center (CAEE) in the city of Itaparica – BA. More specifically, we aimed to: a) analyze school complaints regarding children who used psychotropic drugs; b) investigate their diagnosis and prescription process for psychotropic drugs; and c) understand the effects of using psychotropic drugs on the schooling process. Materials and Methods: this is a case study of a 10-year-old child, enrolled in the AEE, who was taking various medications. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews carried out with the child, their guardian, their teacher, the psychology and psychopedagogy professionals who accompanied them, in addition to the doctor responsible for prescribing the medications. The information produced through the interviews was analyzed and interpreted from a discursive perspective, with the theoretical framework on school failure and medicalization, proposed mainly by Maria Helena Souza Patto and Maria Aparecida Affonso Moysés, in addition to the studies produced by the Forum on Medicalization of Education and Society. Results and Discussion: Vitor's main complaints referred to agitation and difficulty concentrating. Since he was 6 years old, Vitor has been prescribed medications such as “Ritalin”, “Risperidone” and “Neuleptil” to improve his behavior and learning, which did not happen. In an attempt to contain his behaviors, Vitor changed medications and dosages, behaviors such as agitation were replaced by others (tics). From the case, we perceive the responsibility of children and families for school failure based on organicist and medicalizing discourses and theories, detached from subjective and historical aspects. Conclusion: Vitor's case allowed us to observe that the main function of the use of drugs was to stop tensioning the imposed order and control undesirable bodies in the school environment. This study allowed us to observe that diagnoses and psychotropic drugs can, in our view, represent justification for the lack of political responsibility for school failure.