A criança e a morte : a expressão das perdas e conflitos por meio dos contos de fadas

Abstract

The human being throughout his life is faced with situations that make him certain of his own death. Despite this, the feeling of finitude causes fear, especially in western peoples. It is a theme that is commonly excluded from social interactions and, when approached, it is nothing more than a superficial focus on adult people, usually expressed as reports of experiences lived in their imminence, pains felt by losses of close ones or, still, philosophical reflections or any another area of knowledge. It is hardly an issue addressed in families with / between / for young people and, almost never, with / between / for children. This research aimed to address the expression of losses and conflicts in children in the face of the experience of the death of a relative or figure with a close relationship and the development of resources that would allow them to elaborate their losses at the same time. While researching, it addresses the expression of children's losses and conflicts in the face of death, through the use of fairy tales as an intermediate resource in group psychotherapy. Structured in five (5) articles, the initial two (Articles 1 and 2) sought to collect data on the most explored approaches to the theme of grief and death, the impacts of non-elaboration by children and the proposed intervention strategies. This is done through a systematic review of the scientific publications of the last ten (10) years, consisting of articles, theses and dissertations _ indexed in the CAPES, Scielo, BVS Saúde, Web of Science and SCOPUS_ databases about empirical and scientific studies on the use of fairy tales by Psychology, as well as bereavement in childhood. Articles three (3), four (4) and five (5) aim to present and discuss the results of qualitative, longitudinal research, with multiple cases, carried out in a Clinical School of Psychology. Nine children, between seven and nine years old, participated in this research, with a history of loss due to the death of a person with whom they had a close emotional bond. Interviews were conducted, applied to the Baptist Depression Scale - Children and Youth version (BDS-IJ) and HTP (House, Tree, Person) and a psychotherapeutic group was formed to hold ten meetings. The collected data were worked under the winnicottian psychoanalysis bias. This thesis resulted in the findings that publications on the subject are focused on: the evaluation of specific protocols and scales for grief; adapting instruments for children; addressing the symptoms and consequences of childhood grief in development as post-traumatic stress; the importance of support networks; the relevance of preventive work in situations that involve the breaking of ties due to death (Article 1) and, furthermore, that fairy tales lack empirical research on their effectiveness, especially regarding therapeutic interventions, although they are approved as resources in assessment and psychotherapy with children (Article 2). From the field research it was possible to conclude that: the conflicts expressed by the children demonstrate the children's understanding with crossing the feelings of grief, fear, insecurity with the changes in the family structure and dynamics, which reinforces the need for measures to support the family (Article 3); the use of fairy tales makes it possible to approach contents involving death and conflicts generated by the loss, as well as assist in the elaboration of mourning, even with the limited number of ten sessions (Article 4); The experience with the therapeutic group for the care of bereaved children through the use of fairy tales as a resource, brought new data on group psychotherapy, ensuring the originality, since there is no record of studies on fairy tales and mourning in childhood (Article 5). Research has shown that, as the child improves, their fantasies change and the way they relate to each other undergoes changes. As a contribution, the thesis brought the possibility of equipping professionals who are sought to work with bereaved children