CONTRIBUIÇÕES PSICANALÍTICAS PARA A EXPERIÊNCIA DO CORPO NA DEFICIÊNCIA FÍSICA

Abstract

There is no subject without a body for Psychoanalysis; therefore, this study investigated how the subject marked by physical disability relates to their body and constructs their body image, based on the question: how does the psychoanalytic notion of the body contribute to understanding this experience? Inserted in a neoliberal culture that values functionality and categorizes bodies according to medical science as typical or atypical, the study drew on the transmission of Freud, Lacan, and other authors who address the singularity of people with physical disabilities, in order to reflect on the ableist logic that defines their places and possibilities. A descriptive narrative review was conducted, based on books, articles, and four productions collected from Google Scholar that exemplify this experience, in addition to consulting public policies and demographic data from the Planalto and IBGE. The article discussed the concept of physical disability, the symbolic influence of ableism on the perception of body image, and three dimensions of corporeality: the drive body and fragmentation; narcissism and the unification of body image; and the mirror stage as a passage between the two. It was shown that the parental relationship, the analyst’s function, and the role of the multidisciplinary team that usually accompanies the subject offer the symbolic elements essential to the construction of body image. It is concluded that the ableist discourse can generate a negative view of the body, and it is up to the analyst to sustain, through listening and looking, the possibility for the subject to reinscribe their relationship with the body and with desire.