Semiose e espaço de vida: uma análise da situação de sofrimento psíquico em estudantes universitários

Abstract

The literature considers higher education a critical period of developmental transition for students, in which a series of psychological processes are redefined, altering their perception of themselves and the world around them. Taking this into account, various studies carried out around the world have found a high prevalence of psychopathological disorders in this group, sometimes even higher than in the general population. However, a pattern has been observed in the methodological profile of these studies based on a quantitative and correlation perspective. In addition, they adopted a Cartesian, linear, static paradigm of cause and effect in understanding psychological suffering, attributing either social aspects or individual problems to explain this phenomenon. With this in mind, this study adopted Semiotic Cultural Psychology as its theoretical framework, in dialogue with the Kurt Lewin's Field Theory, and Husserl's phenomenological perspective of first-person knowledge, in order to build a model for understanding psychological suffering. In this model, psychological suffering is a particular type of semiosis in which superordinate meanings (a concept used from the Two-stage semiotic model) favor the emergence of hyper-generalized affective-semiotic fields that affect the relationship between the individual and the world, pointing to difficulty in managing psychological boundaries in the individual's living space. This study aimed to understand semiosis and living space in university students experiencing psychological distress, using the cultural semiotic model for understanding psychological distress. The research design used an idiographic and phenomenological perspective. The methodology was inspired by case studies, in which three semi-structured interviews were carried out with three students who had been assisted in a psychological foster care project.The results showed that the psychological suffering was mainly related to hypergeneralized affective-semiotic fields related to the identity of the participants. These issues were catalyzed by significant aspects of the university, which negotiated specific meanings related to their life stories in the process of semiosis. In this sense, it was considered that the growing competition to enter university in the last 20 years, the difficulties inherent in human relationships in the university context, and the various prejudices present in society play an active role in the process of constructing meaning-related to psychological distress. Another point highlighted was the possibility that the biomedical paradigm, popularized in society and the discourse that the university produces illness can favor interpretations in which malaise is associated with psychopathologies, crystallizing specific meanings about oneself and the world. Finally, the study concludes with the applications of Semiotic Cultural Psychology through the model proposed herein, Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology. It also discusses the importance of expanding psychological care for university students in Brazil, especially in public universities. The need to rethink productivism and management through business models in higher education institutions was also highlighted.