Laço, memória e testemunho: leituras psicanalíticas sobre a morte na clínica hospitalar

Abstract

This study is a theoretical clinical investigation grounded in psychoanalytic theory, in dialogue with other fields of knowledge, aiming to discuss how death and die are treated within the social bond, based on my professional and emotional experience with hospitalized individuals. The motivation for the research stemmed from my work as a hospital psychologist, utilizing the residual memories that remained with me through the transferential bond with patients who passed away during my professional journey. Consequently, I constructed a clinical memoir as part of the methodological approach, which revealed the most prominent recollections of my work experience, highlighting the unique experiences of death in individuals that inspired the theoretical themes developed in this study. The study offers particularly relevant reflections for healthcare professionals who routinely deal with death and their own grief, whether expressed or denied. The theoretical essay seeks traces of the symbolic arsenal surrounding the concept of death in our culture: the place of the uncanny, the strange, the sensitive, art, and the representation of death as a social fact/phenomenon. Additionally, the study addresses the attention given to individuals undergoing the dying process in the hospital setting. Finally, a proposal for psychoanalytic care in this context was developed, based on the sensitive experience between patient and analyst, and the role of testimony within this clinical practice. The research highlights the need to recognize the relational and intersubjective dimensions of care for those in the process of dying, and the necessity of investing in mental health care for professionals, to build the capacity to listen to and acknowledge those who are dying.