SUBJECTIVE SUFFERING OF ADOLESCENTS IN THE POST-PANDEMIC SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: A CASE STUDYABSTRACT
Mental health processes in the school environment have raised increasing concern in educational institutions, which predominantly follow universalist, individualistic, and pathologizing perspectives. Most studies about these processes do not emphasize the complex subjective dimension which composes them. Based on research conducted in 2023 and 2024, grounded in the Theory of Subjectivity, under the historical-cultural approach, this article aims to understand how the adolescent’s suffering in a public school in the Federal District (Brazil) is subjectively configured in the post-pandemic context, as well as any subjective resources oriented towards their development. The Constructive-Interpretative Methodology and Qualitative Epistemology underpinned the construction of a case study of a 14-year-old adolescent experiencing subjective distress, who exhibited self-harming behavior in the school context. The instruments used were conversational dynamics, dialogues about music, and dialogues about drawings produced by the participant. The field research lasted 8 months, with meetings held approximately 3 times a week. The results point to the complexity and uniqueness of the individual and social subjective processes involved in suffering, which demand the creation of spaces for dialogue and dignity in difference, favoring school inclusion. The dialogical process of the research involved the mobilization of the student, favoring the generation of subjective resources that expanded their vital space in different dimensions, allowing the genesis of an alternative path to subjective suffering.
Keywords:
subjectivity; mental health; school guidance; adolescent psychology
RESUMO
Os processos de saúde mental no espaço escolar têm suscitado preocupação crescente nas instituições de ensino, que seguem, predominantemente, as perspectivas universalistas, individualistas e patologizantes. A maioria dos estudos sobre esses processos não enfatiza a dimensão subjetiva complexa que os compõe. Com base em uma pesquisa realizada nos anos de 2023 e 2024, fundamentada na Teoria da Subjetividade, em uma abordagem histórico-cultural, este artigo visa compreender como se configuram subjetivamente tanto o sofrimento de um adolescente em uma escola da rede pública de ensino do Distrito Federal (Brasil), no contexto pós-pandêmico, quanto eventuais recursos subjetivos orientados ao seu desenvolvimento. A Metodologia Construtivo-Interpretativa e a Epistemologia Qualitativa fundamentaram a construção de um estudo de caso de um adolescente de 14 anos em sofrimento subjetivo, que apresentava comportamento autolesivo no contexto escolar. Os instrumentos utilizados foram dinâmicas conversacionais, diálogos sobre músicas e diálogos sobre desenhos produzidos pelo participante. A pesquisa de campo durou 8 meses, com encontros cuja frequência era, aproximadamente, de 3 vezes por semana. Os resultados apontam para a complexidade e singularidade dos processos subjetivos individuais e sociais implicados no sofrimento, que demandam a criação de espaços de diálogo e dignidade na diferença, favorecendo a inclusão escolar. O processo dialógico da pesquisa implicou a mobilização do estudante, favorecendo que ele gerasse recursos subjetivos que ampliaram seu espaço vital em diferentes dimensões, permitindo a gênese de um caminho alternativo ao sofrimento subjetivo.
Palavras-chave:
subjetividade; saúde mental; orientação escolar; psicologia do adolescente
RESUMEN
Los procesos de salud mental en el espacio escolar han suscitado preocupación creciente en las instituciones de enseñanza, que siguen, predominantemente, las perspectivas universalistas, individualistas y patologizantes. Gran parte de los estudios sobre esos procesos no enfatiza la dimensión subjetiva compleja que los compone. Con base en una investigación realizada en los años de 2023 y 2024, fundamentada en la Teoría de la Subjetividad,Teoría de la Subjetividad desde una perspectiva hsitórico-cultural histórico-cultural, este artículo tiene como objetivo comprender como se configuran subjetivamente tanto el sufrimiento de un adolescente en una escuela de la red pública de enseñanza del Distrito Federal (Brasil), en el contexto de la pospandemia, como eventuales recursos subjetivos orientados a su desarrollo. La Metodología Constructivo-Interpretativa y la Epistemología Cualitativa fundamentaron la construcción de un estudio de caso de un adolescente de 14 años en sufrimiento subjetivo, que presentaba comportamiento autolesivo en el contexto escolar. Se utilizaron los siguientes instrumentos: dinámicas conversacionales, diálogos sobre músicas y dibujos producidos por el participante. La investigación de campo llevó 8 meses, con encuentros cuya frecuencia era cerca de 3 veces por semana. Los resultados apuntan para la complejidad y singularidad de los procesos subjetivos individuales y sociales implicados en el sufrimiento, que demandan la creación de espacios de diálogo y dignidad en la diferencia, favoreciendo la inclusión escolar. El proceso dialógico de la investigación implicó la movilización del estudiante, permitiendo que generase recursos subjetivos para ampliar su espacio vital en diferentes dimensiones, permitiendo la génesis de un camino alternativo al sufrimiento subjetivo.
Palabras clave:
subjetividad; salud mental; orientación escolar; psicología del adolescente
INTRODUCTION
Mental health processes in the school context cause a lot of preoccupation at educational institutions in Brazil (Goulart, 2023; Herzog et al., 2020). More specifically, situations of suffering for adolescent students have drawn more and more attention, among other aspects, due to an increase in the number of cases of suicide in this population (Alves, Fialho, Paiva de Araujo, & Naslund, 2024). Nevertheless, the lack of technical and subjective resources to handle these situations in the school context is a common problem (Oliveira, 2021). Very often, the answer that is offered for a concrete crisis situation in mental health is reduced to a bureaucratic and depersonalized referral, by means of a logic that is centered on pathology, and on technical reports rather than on people (Moysés & Collares, 2019, 2020; Untoiglich, 2014).
Research in the field of Education and Mental Health demonstrate a significant increase in the number of cases and occurrences of adolescents displaying signs of physical illness and mental health problems - which has also become worse after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic (Portillo, Morgan, & Gallegos, 2023). The most frequent symptoms are: headaches, having to leave school early, absences, lack of attention, dispersive attention, agitation, and manifestations that are considered “psychosomatic”, such as vomiting, stomach aches, breathlessness and sweating. More serious situations such as self-mutilation, anxiety, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts have also become frequent in the routines of schools (Anacleto & Fonseca, 2021; Imran, Zeshan, & Pervaiz, 2020; Maia, 2022). In such conditions, many students end up presenting various difficulties regarding their school development, including poor performance as well as learning and socializing difficulties.
This situation was also identified in the service provided by the author of this article, as educational mentor at a public school in the Federal District (Brazil). There is a complain that has become commonplace among adolescents: no one will listen to them, embrace them, or support them. Analyzing these processes in the school space proves important not only because it is a space where adolescents get their formal schooling, but also because it is a place where they socialize and spend a significant part of their lives. This discussion leads us to the comprehensive and polysemic concept of inclusion. In this article, school inclusion is understood as “the pedagogical work with the diversity of students while providing them with real learning and development opportunities.” (Mitjáns Martínez & González Rey, 2017, p. 100). From the perspective that we assume in this study, the inclusion process is complex and singular, that is, it is not oriented by protocols. It is rather oriented by the mobilization of subjective productions by the students, beyond their difficulties, in other to benefit development processes.
In this sense, the Theory of Subjectivity, created by Fernando González Rey in a cultural-historical approach, (2003, 2005, 2007, 2022), offers a system of interrelated concepts that emphasize the subjective dimension of human processes, leading to a fruitful articulation between mental health and education, in a manner that is alternative to the biomedical model1 (Goulart, 2019; Goulart & González Rey, 2016, 2020).
In this realm, the central concept of subjectivity represents a new conception of the human processes in the conditions of culture, considering the permanent interrelation between individual and social, according to González Rey and Mitjáns Martinez (2017, 2019). They define subjectivity as “[...] a symbolic-emotional system that is oriented by the creation of a peculiarly human reality: culture, whose condition for socially institutionalized and historically constituted development is subjectivity” (González Rey & Mitjáns Martinez, 2017, p. 27).
According to the authors, social and individual subjectivity are part of the same system and feed each other by means of the productions of individuals and of the social groups in different spaces. All social subjectivity is configured in the subjective dimension of the individuals that participate in it. On the other hand, productions, actions and interrelations of individuals play an active role in their constitution. Thus, social subjectivity is not a macrosystem that determines individual processes, and there is a complex dynamics between these two levels (González Rey & Mitjáns Martínez, 2017).
The subjective senses are the most elementary symbolic-emotional units of subjectivity. Thus, “the subjective senses are the most versatile, elementary, and dynamic part of subjectivity and emerge in the course of experience as part of the human process” (González Rey & Mitjáns Martinez, 2017, p. 63). In turn, the subjective configurations are a moment of organization that emerges from the chaotic flow of the subjective senses, representing relatively stable subjective formations. This relative stability, however, must not be interpreted as rigidity or isolation, because, even when a subjective configuration is a self-generator of converging senses that drive a certain action, new subjective senses can emerge in the very course of experience, based on the practice of the involved agents, whether they are individual or social. These new subjective senses tend to be progressively integrated to the dominant subjective configuration, dynamically reconfiguring it in the concrete context in which the action is realized (González Rey & Mitjáns Martínez, 2017).
The Theory of Subjectivity leads us to emphasize the generating character of the social and individual subjectivities in the school contexts, while considering individuals and social groups as possible agents and subjects of their actions in the world (Mitjáns Martínez & González Rey, 2017). In this theoretical perspective, the agent represents an individual or social group that takes an active stand that is situated in the historical development of events. In turn, the concept of subject goes beyond. It is the individual or social condition that is marked by the opening of an alternative subjectivation route to a certain normative space in order to yield creative options during their experiences (González Rey & Mitjáns Martínez, 2017).
Complexity in a cultural-historical approach and the singularity of subjective processes do seem to be the focus of educational institutions nowadays, while it is possible to observe the predomination of a universalist, individualistic, and pathologizing vision that is anchored on the behavioral symptoms of people who, supposedly display some disfunction (Goulart, 2023; Goulart & Alcantara, 2016; Oliveira, Goulart, & González Rey, 2017). In this sense, the Theory of Subjectivity presents new routes to approach this challenge for mental health at school, while generating distinct ways to comprehend the complexity of situations of suffering and development (González Rey; Goulart & Bezerra, 2016). Thus, the objective of this article is to understand the subjective processes that are implied in the suffering of an adolescent in the school context, as well as occasional subjective resources of adolescents that are guided towards their development.
METHODOLOGY
The Constructive-Interpretative Methodology, based on Qualitative Epistemology (González Rey, 1997, 2005), was the methodological referential of the research that is presented in this article. Three basic principles drive Qualitative Epistemology: (1) the constructive-interpretative character of knowledge, (2) the dialogical character of the production of knowledge and (3) the definition of the singular as a legitimate instance for the production of scientific knowledge (González Rey, 2005). These three principles are the basis of Constructive-Interpretative Methodology, which is characterized by the: a) notion of research as a dialogical-relational process, rather than a set of instrumental acts; b) the inseparability of the phases of instrument application and of the production and construction of information during the research; c) the interrelation between the instruments that are used in the investigation, which unfold during the investigation and are connected to the process of information construction; d) the driving character of ideas in the development of the theoretical model that regulates the general research process (González Rey & Mitjáns Martinez, 2016).
The research involved a field work at a public school in the Federal District, Brazil. After the approval of the project in the Ethics Committee, in the realm of the Universidade de Brasília2, the researcher approached the school professional team, which was fundamental for the construction of a connection that benefits the opening of formal and informal spaces for research - a process that is conceptualized by González Rey (2005) as the construction of the social scenario of the research. In this process, the researcher had the opportunity to become acquainted and quite close, such as Kurt (fictitious name), with whom the research was realized. The Educational Orientation room was the privileged space where a significant part of the meetings with the participant took place.
Participant
The participant of the research has the fictitious name Kurt.3 In the beginning of our contact, he was 14 years old and lived in Brasília, his hometown. He is the oldest of two siblings. His father works with technology and his mother is a housewife. He has attended a public school since he was a small child. During the research, he was in the 9th year of Basic Education. He lives with his Father, mother, and younger brother at a house that is relevantly close to the school and he has to take only one bus to go from home to school. He is an assiduous student at school and his school records show good educational performance.
Instruments
In the realm of Constructive-Interpretative Methodology, the instruments represent any resource that leads to the other person’s expression in the in the research context (González Rey, 1997, 2005). They represent a source of information, and are based on diversified expressions by people during the research. The research used the following instruments:
Conversational Dynamics: this instrument was produced by González Rey (1997, 2005) and is different from traditional interviews because it proposes a process of dialogue with the participants, in which the researcher, due to the objectives of the research, suggests general topics, with the intention to get the participants engaged in the consideration of the approached themes.
Dialogues about songs, drawings, and comic books: the participants’ own drawings and comic books of his preference were spontaneously mentioned by the student during the research, and the conversations on these materials became a powerful research instrument, leading to the approach of sensitive themes and various reflections in the participant’s past, present, and future.
Analysis and construction of information
The instruments previously presented benefitted the dialogue with the participant in a fluid and dynamic form, while generating varied information which, in turn, generated a theoretical model. In this perspective, the theoretical model is a complex and dynamic construction of the researcher, which integrates different indicators and hypotheses during the research, leading to intelligibility on the studied theme (González Rey & Mitjáns Martínez, 2019). The gradual elaboration of the hypotheses becomes possible by means of the process of construction of indicators during the research. According to González Rey (1997, 2005), the indicators represent significations constructed by the researcher by means of information that is obtained with the use of the instruments that, during the research, get stronger and constitute more comprehensive chains of interpretation, while configuring explanatory hypotheses in the researched topic. In this process, the first indicators become “raw materials” for the ones that are later constructed (Goulart & Patiño Torres, 2021).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Assistance and dialogue in situations of suffering in the school context
The first meeting with Kurt happened during an unpredicted situation in the field. The author had been for three months observing the routine of the Educational Councilor of the school when the Ministry of Education applied a national examination to assess the performance of 9th year students from all over the country. Some classes were selected for the examination without previous notice, Kurt’s class was one of them.
Right after the examination, Kurt was found in one of the school restrooms, hurting himself in the arms with a ballpen. One of his classmates told the principal, the councilor was quickly informed. When the coordinator tried to talk to the student, he escaped the room. When he was again found by the monitor4, he was sent to the educational orientation room, where the following conversation with the Councilor took place:
C: Do you know why you are here?
Kurt: Because I ran away.
C: Yes, there has been a report that you were cutting yourself in the bathroom. Your classmates saw you and told the coordinators. I am not the principal.
(Student looks blankly at the floor with a worried face).
C: You ran away. We were concerned with your safety. The problem is the running-away thing. We want to help you. Do you understand why we want to talk to you? The boy lowers his head to cover his face with his own hair, retreats into his own jacket and sinks expressionless into the chair)
C: Do you still have your mother? Who do you live with?
Kurt: My father, my mother, and my brother.
C: Have you been seeing a therapist?
Kurt: I was seeing one but I felt uncomfortable with the sessions.
C: You couldn’t adapt?
(The student shakes his head)
C: It would be important to check the possibility of changing therapists so you could feel comfortable. (silence)
C: Let me see your grades... You are an excellent student. Why did you do it?
The excerpt above hints at great concern by the Councilor at this initial moment with academic performance, which might be a symptom of the professional unpreparedness for this unpredictable moment in order to provide a suitable response to the student’s suffering in the school space. This reaction leads to the construction of the indicator of tack of formation for school professionals in order to handle students with mental health issues in the school environment. The body language displayed by the student when he covers his face with his own hair, and lowers his head and hides inside his jacket leads to the construction of the indicator of discomfort, uneasiness and shame regarding the nature of the Councilor’s questions.
The emotional tone of the conversation and the way she conducted it resembles an interrogation, and does not lead to the construction of a comfortable dialogue with the student about his own suffering, without paying any attention to his emotional fragility. This excerpt also leads us to the construction of a strong indicator of the preponderance of emphasis on the cognitive in the school space, with disregard to subjective configurations that are involved in this process. This scenario culminates with the lack of dynamics in the pedagogical strategies to facilitate dialogue in situations in which adolescents express subjective suffering, culminating in perspectives that objectify others - a process that is historically associated to pathologization (Goulart, 2023, 2024a). Connected to a set of other experiences in the field, which go beyond the specific objective of this article, these indicators are the basis of the construction of the hypothesis that School, as a social subjective system, displays some sort of paralysis regarding situations of subjective suffering, and the professional team feels vulnerable regarding the suffering that is expressed, and does not emerge as an agent lin the search for alternatives.
Still in the context of the first contact with Kurt, the researcher requested the permission to interfere in the conversation - and obtained the Councilor’s permission:
Researcher: Listen, it’s not your fault. I can see your pain. I know the pain goes beyond the marks in your body. (The student holds up his head, makes eye contact with the researcher and breaks a timid smile)
Researcher: It’s not the first time, is it?
(The student pulled up the sleeves of his jacket and revealed the cuts and scars)
Kurt: No. It is the fifth time this year.
With this simple though open-hearted and empathic approach by the researcher, the student seemed to feel himself and his suffering validated by the professional, who did not regard his singular story from the perspective of blaming the student for his pain. The way he raises his head and smiles can be constructed as an indicator of the way he felt embraced by the researcher in her approach. The assistance provided to students who are suffering in the school space by means of dialogue is benefited when conditions are constructed for the students to have a space to speak and be heard. This process is also expressed in the following conversational dynamics with Kurt, after one week after our first meeting:
Researcher: I would like to suggest, since these scars are part of you, to give them names. Everything in our bodies is part of our identities. What will we call them? Do you think we could call your wounds sadness, joy, anguish, fear, and grudge? We can use a phrase or whatever name you choose.
(Silence. He is apparently pondering).
Kurt: Paranoid! Let me explain... Paranoid is a song. I really like what it says. (He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and shows the lyrics to the researcher). This is a heavy metal rock band that I really like. Its name is Black Sabbath.
OThe dialogue resource that is employed, in which the researcher suggested names for the scars led to the production of subjective senses that were the basis of interest and the student’s openness regarding the researcher, leading to the construction of an indicator of the dialogical character of the following meetings during the research, which were characterized by openness and spontaneity. An example of this is that, during the meetings, the participant spontaneously brought to the conversations with the researcher, his own resources for emotional expression such songs that he liked, his drawings, his favorite comic books - and that helped the researcher use dialogue on these materials as instruments to bring out expression by participant Kurt. This singularity in Kurt’s communication is a indicator of the authentic, creative way for him to express himself - beyond actual suffering, he was able to count on important subjective resources at this moment in his life.
From subjective suffering to subjective development
In the researcher’s first meeting with Kurt’s mother and the Councilor to explain the terms of the research and get better acquainted with his family, the following interaction took place:
C: He likes heavy metal... he probably wears clothes that look different, right? How does he usually dress? Black clothes? Long or short sleeves? (Adopting this approach in order to get to know whether his mother had noticed the cuts in his arms although this fact was not mentioned at any moment)
Mother: oh... yes. He likes black and always wears long sleeves, you know. He does not cut himself. I always pay attention to that.
Her unawareness of something so unusual about her son, in connection with his attempt to hide the marks of self-injury leads us to construct an indicator of difficulty to construct processes of dialogue that embrace life processes related to the suffering that was also experienced in Kurt’s family, regarding the quality of his relations with his family and the complexity of the process of experienced subjective suffering. It becomes evident in the following conversation with the researcher when the theme was childhood.
Researcher: If you could send a message to yourself when you were a child, what would you say?
Kurt: That everything is going to be all right.
Researcher: Does he have problems?
Kurt: Can I tell you something that I never told anyone? Well, I have told Joel (fictitious name), the physical education teacher. I was assaulted when I was a child.
Researcher: Do you want to talk about it?
Kurt: No.
Researcher: You never told your parents?
Kurt: No, they will never know.
Researcher: Kurt, you are a victim. What happened is not your fault. Can you understand that?
Kurt: Yes.
In this excerpt, in addition to one more expression of the trust connection that was built between the participant and the researcher, there are pieces of information that lead us to an advancement in the comprehension of the subjective configuration of Kurt’s suffering. In addition to the indicators that were previously constructed, which are related to processes of dialogue that provide assistance to those who are suffering in the family and at school, there is the relevance that the experience of being assaulted when he was a child acquired in this conversation and others between Kurt and the researcher, which leads us to construct an indicator that this experience plays a pivotal role in the subjective configuration of his current suffering.
In addition, it is possible to highlight something important, he asked Joel (Fictitious name), the teacher, for help. In this sense, it is very important that this movement of confidentiality happened at school with a teacher, which is evidence that school can be configured subjectively as a normative space for pressure and academic demands, but at the same time, as an opportunity to produce dialogical spaces, in which the construction of social connections can change life experiences.
One week after the previous experience, Kurt brought the lyrics of the groove metal band named Pantera. The following dialogue took place:
Researcher: Is there any part of the song that is more expressive to you?
Kurt: Not really, I identify with the whole song. It is like a mirror to me. It is quite heavy... but there is this part which really feels like what I mean to say:
“No one knows, what is done is done. It is like he is dead”
Researcher: What is dead?
Kurt: The child is dead. Innocence was taken away. There was only a memory.
Researcher: What memories?
Kurt: Painful memories. (...)
Researcher: Any feelings? Which ones?
Kurt: Desire, anger, sadness, frustration, regret.
Researcher: Why regret?
Kurt: For not having been able to do anything.
Researcher: But it is not your fault, you were a victim. How old were you?
Kurt: 4 or 5 (...)
Researcher: Do you believe someone should have helped you?
Kurt: Myself. I should have kicked my way out. I should have reacted so they could not do what they did to me.
This excerpt corroborates the previous indictor that the chilhood assault experience still reverberates painfully in Kurt’s present life, not as the memory of a painful process, but as strong present-time subjective production in his suffering. Based on the Theory of Subjectivity, we understand that trauma does not refer to a past event of which the pain needs to be noticed or symbolized. It refers to a determining event that has led to a series of side-effects, subjectively configuring itself at the present moment in different ways, by means of the resources and of the fragility of individuals at this moment. There is no linearity between the traumatic event and the current suffering, although it is possible to predict that the subjective meanings that the subjective senses Kurt produces currently regarding himself and his own body are related to this experienced violence, currently expressing himself by means of self-injury and in his subjective suffering in general. According Goulart (2024a, p. 225):
Subjective suffering does not specifically refer to the everyday life tensions, contradictions, and conflicts that are somehow experienced by all individuals at a certain degree. It rather refers to a subjective configuration that is dominating and generates discomfort, such as in the definition of mental disorder, by González Rey (2011), which culminates in the weakening of subjective resources of individuals, reducing their possibilities of action, reflection, and position in different areas of life.
It is important to emphasize that, on the one hand, the fact that Kurt approaches a theme that is so sensitive, intimate, and painful with the researcher and with the teacher - which might be an indicator of a new moment of reflection, construction of connections and possible stand to be taken regarding what happened. This is fresh evidence of the importance of the construction of dialogical spaces at school institutions as spaces for support, reflection, and development. On the other hand, it is possible to consider that the fact that he did not share this information with his parents, with a close acquaintance, or even with his therapist at the time like he did with the researcher, might have made it more difficult for him have access to possible support processes that might have helped him in overcoming his subjective suffering.
Other processes in Kurt’s life that are relevant in our construction cannot be explored in detail in this article, such as difficulties in his relationship with his father, processes of pathologization that are present in the family dynamics, and troubled relations with peers, especially in the school context. These processes were sources of subjective senses that are configured in his suffering, which was also intensified in the period of restrictions referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, as in the following excerpt:
Kurt: It was dark during the pandemic. It was a difficult moment for me.
Researcher: What was this depression moment like for you during the pandemic?
Kurt: I had thoughts that I could not control. I did not feel like doing anything… It was like being in a hole. Death was everywhere. Emptiness. Darkness with the lights off. You see?
The analogy made by Kurt between his “depression moment” and a “hole”, “death and darkness” and the “lights off” is significant and expresses his subjective suffering at this moment, representing a dominating subjective configuration regarding which he could not think of alternatives. In his expressions, his relationship with his mother and teachers in the school space seem to play a central role, although they are still punctuated by conflicts and challenges, according to evidence provided in the following excerpt:
Researcher: If we were going to complete the sentence: School is...
Kurt: Something bad with the taste of nuts.
Researcher: Does it have a flavor?
Kurt: Yes. Because I am allergic to nuts (giggles).
Researcher: And your mother?
Kurt: Nutty-flavored. Like school.
The use of the nut metaphor - Kurt is allergic to nuts - emerges as a powerful signification for Kurt himself, which, in articulation with previously constructed indicators, allows us to construct the hypothesis that the subjective configuration of his current suffering articulates subjective senses that are produced in historical processes, such as the violence he suffered when he was a child, the fragility of relations and of the communication with parents, as well as current processes such as difficulties related to the relations with school processes in which he feels “pressured”. This culminates in a general discomfort in his life, which expresses itself by, among other processes, the self-injury and in his anxiety fits at certain moments.
After the Subjectivity Theory, we do not work with categorizations that are oriented towards the discovery of general patterns, structures, and categories that describe problems related to mental health, but to understand the subjective processes that are at the basis of these problems (Goulart, 2024a, 2024b), which are also expressed by self-injury, presenting the singularity of the configuration of subjective suffering in the school space.
It seems fundamental to emphasize that individuals, even in situations of intense subjective suffering, do restrict themselves to this dominating subjective configuration, but also expresses occasional resources that can be identified, appreciated and mobilized, with Kurt’s capacity to express himself by drawing, his sensibility to music and for comic books. This process took place gradually as the connection and the dialogue between researcher and participant went deeper.
This process implied a change in the posture and in the way Kurt seemed to feel more and more comfortable in our meetings, and in our demensions of his life. For example: (1) Kurt started to report that he had better conditions to handle his own anxiety; (2) there was a change in his relationship with his father, with whom he got closer and started to talk more; (3) life projects such as learning to play the guitar and practice karaoke started to be not only idealized but realized; (4) he started to get closer to classmates with whom he had affinity, to the point of inviting a friend to participate in the conversations with the researcher; (5) he also mentioned that he is dealing much better with pressure in the school context. It is not the objective of this article to present details on all these processes. In a nutshell, the articulation of these changes in the process of the research leads to the construction of an indicator that the subjective configuration of the relation with the researcher started to mobilize the production of subjective senses in other dimensions of his life, culminating in significant change processes.
In a conversation with Kurt’s mother, when asked how he was doing, she answered:
Mother: Well, my son is happy. Yesterday, he was getting ready to come to school and said: “She has produced a miracle. I do not feel anxious as I put on my clothes to go to school”.
This process was also by authentic, creative, and singular moments for Kurt. For example, based on a comic book named “Invincible”, one of Kurt’s families, the following conversation took place:
Researcher: What makes you invincible?
Kurt: Standing up.
Researcher: which of the lines in the lyrics of the song Paranoid by Black Sabbath makes you invincible?
Kurt: “It is not too late”.
This set of processes and excerpts leads to the hypothesis of the initial genesis of a process of subjective development. We understand that this process was benefitted by a dialogical relation that promoted Kurt’s protagonism, in an assistance that provoked and supported initiatives that he would probably not have started if he had been alone. According to González Rey and Mitjáns Martínez (2017, p. 306)
Individuals develop themselves by facing challenges that include the development of new subjective resources that have an impact, somehow, on different areas of life regarding situations of conflict. There are individuals that emerge as active individuals in the situation whereas other passively submit themselves. (González Rey & Mitjáns Martínez, 2017, p. 306).
This new trajectory starts to be constructed by the student, with wide implications in the life of the participant. Some months after the beginning of our meetings, the following conversation took place:
Kurt: Let me explain. This place makes me feel real good. You helped me a lot. More than the psychology did. Here, I found the words. I can see what is right and what is wrong. I can say things. I used to be so confused.
Researcher: Thank you, Kurt, it makes me very happy to be able to help you. (...). Have you talked to your parentes about the scars in your arms?
Kurt: No, i don’t thinks it is necessary, I am not doing that anymore... look (he shows his arms). Now, I play songs in the car and he likes them. We listen to music together.
Researcher: Do you have a voice now?
Kurt: Yes.
Researcher: How would you like to express this moment? A drawing, a song...
Kurt: Better than the Nirvana song: The man who sold the world.
The excerpt above corroborates the hypothesis of a process of subjective development. Based on subjective resources that were already historically configured and with the generation of new resources, he amplified the scope of his life and his conditions to handle different situations, implying his emergence as active agent in order to produce alternative to subjective suffering.
The focus on subjectivity leads to emphasis on behavioral control and on the control of crisis, providing better conditions to comprehend the social and individual singularities that are implied by the suffering of adolescents in the school space and favoring processes of subjective development.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
This article had the objective to understand the subjective configuration of suffering by an adolescent in a school context, as well as subjective resources oriented towards their development. Based on the Theory of Subjectivity in a cultural-historical approach, we sustain that the importance of working in the school context with situations of suffering, considering their historical, social, cultural, and relational aspects, without losing sight of the singularity with which they are produced in every concrete context.
The theoretical model that is constructed by means of Kurt’s case hints at the following central aspects:
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- The complexity of the situations of subjective suffering by the students demands personalized assistance with the creation of spaces for dialogue that appreciate the singularity of individuals who express it in diversity and in difference for the construction of inclusive processes at school that do not reproduce an attention that is centered on symptoms and on medical reports, in order to generate alternatives to moralist perspectives that objectify and standardize human functions. This logic is centered on symptoms and does not allow the comprehension of the singularity of students, and does not benefit the creation of subjective resources.
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- Subjective suffering is not the expression of psychological expression a priori, neither is it defined by symptomatic patterns, but for a subjective configuration that, in this process, becomes dominant and produces discomfort who are fragilized in their subjective resources in the most diverse spaces of life. Understanding subjective suffering requires alternatives to individualization and to sociologization, which are tendencies in the approach to mental health in many spaces, including school.
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- The work that is oriented towards the emergence of agents and individuals, as well as subjective development, is possible even in situations of intense subjective suffering, whenever adolescents are contemplated in their perspectives, active voices, and in their singular subjective productions that emerge from concrete life stories. It becomes possible to create a perspective that strengthens the generating character of the other one.
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- The research and the professional practice can mutually constitute themselves in the school context due to their dialogue-based character, promoting the construction of relations that are based on respect for singularities and on the mobilization of the other one. That does not benefit only expression. It also triggers transformation processes, which might be in the origin of subjective development.
Thus, the results of this student point at the relevance of going deeper in investigations that articulate the understanding of subjective suffering and the elaboration of intersectoral practices in the school context. The constitution of support networks that integrate education, health, and culture might benefit the development of strategies that recognize the singularity of individuals and social groups in order to promote collaborative forms of care. In this scenario, it is possible to highlight the pertinence of exploring the notion of subjective inclusion as an analytical category, implying the debate on the processes of school inclusion that go beyond normative and diagnostic criteria, considering the symbolic-emotional dimensions that are part of the school experiences of adolescents who are suffering.
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