FREEZING THE OTHER'S EXCESSIVE DEMAND: THE PLACE OF DEMAND IN PSYCHOANALYSIS WITH CHILDREN

Abstract

The theoretical path outlined will be intertwined with the construction of a clinical case attended at the clinic-school of the Centro Universitário Redentor (Itaperuna/RJ) during the course of the Supervised Internship in Clinical Psychology. This case elucidates the guiding question of this work: what is the place of parents' or guardians' demands in practicing with children? Based on this, it is worth investigating how the demand resonates in clinical practice with children and their parents or guardians. To do this, it is necessary to differentiate the concepts of need, demand and desire in psychoanalysis, based on Jacques Lacan's framework. It is also essential to understand the inevitable and, in many cases, tempestuous place of parents or guardians in the clinic with children, a condition that the practitioner has to deal with throughout the treatment and, finally, to verify the place that the Other's demand occupies and its relationship with the symptom. In the midst of this debate, it is also necessary for the professional, faced with the particularities of the symptoms and signifiers that erupt in the play engendered in the analytical scene, to position themselves in such a way as to identify and differentiate the child's symptom from the symptom in the child. In this sense, it is essential that they participate and intervene with the child in the play, using the games and the stories and role-plays written and drawn there, which are engendered from the transference that is established. Thus, and also considering that such demands often have an immediate nature, it is necessary to understand that the path to be followed in a case depends, among other factors, on the specifics of the symptoms, the conditions imposed by the place where the treatment takes place and the willingness of the analyst to reinvent his interventions. We therefore hope to contribute to the exploration of new paths in clinical practice with children and their relationship with their parents or guardians, as well as thinking about new ways for the analyst to act in the face of the problems posed by the demand in the clinical setting.