GROUP PROCESS: REFLECTIONS ON A PRACTICE WITH YOUNGSTERS IN MENTAL HEALTH

• Main Author: Cláudia Márcia Vieira Gusmão
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Paraná 2003-12-01
• Series: Cogitare Enfermagem
• Subjects: Group Process; Adolescents; Social practice; Mental health
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5380/ce.v8i2.1699
• ISSN: 1414-8536; 2176-9133

In this work reflections are presented about a practice that was done with youngsters in Mental Health. It summarizes part of a research that was done for a master dissertation in Psychology. I used, as a theoretical reference, authors from the Social Psychology area, who work with a dialectic concept of men and group, mainly the studies of Ignácio Martín-Baró and Silvia Lane. Those authors advocate that the group is a process that is filled with contradictions, which reflect the society where their members are inserted. I also intended to reflect about that practice in the context of the transformations that are being done under the Psychiatric Reform. Regarding the methodological aspects, I made use of the qualitative research and, as a tool for data collection, of the participative observation. The empiric data was grouped and analyzed under the light of the theoretical categories signaled by the cited authors. The research results pointed to the importance of reflecting about the social practices that are conducted at different social contexts, trying to adapt them to the population’s reality, besides the need of spaces of social interaction opened to the dialog and to the construction of affective connections, which are important for the strengthening of those youngsters identity. In the context of mental health, I also consider important to approach the interaction with other social segments, allowing the construction of an interdiscipline practice, which permit the multiplication of the information, working over the pre-concepts and therefore reducing the social exclusion.