Identidades vulneráveis ao suicídio: envelhecimento, metamorfose e autopoiese

Abstract

This thesis is fruit of a research on the identity constitution of elderly people who committed suicide. The suicide of elderly is a theme emerging in these last years as a great problem in Public Health. Its growing rates in Amazonas follow the aging of brazilian population, placing all of the health care system on alert. The present study intends to discuss this matter identifying and problematizing the main risk factors involved in two separate elderly suicide cases examined in research. To do such, a qualitative methodology was adopted, employing in-depth interviews (semi-structured) with two family groups in Manaus. More specifically, the Semi-structured Interview Script for Psychological and Psychosocial Autopsies was used. As comprehensive theoretical landmarks we adopted the perspectives of Ciampa, concerning his theory of syntagm identity-metamorphosis- emancipation and Maturana‘s theory about systemic identities. The first author conceptualizes the identity as a dialectic process between individual and society, through which the process becomes constituent and belonging to the individual. The identity is seen as a dynamic entity, comprehended as the metamorphosis of the self, the concepts of redundancy and identicalness, explain how the metamorphosis process works; the second author proposes an idea of man and society as systemic identities, possessing a peculiar form of organization (self-organization) and mutual modulation. Based on this study, we propose the term Suicide Vulnerable Identities as a category that includes elderly people who have been through significant losses of their social characters, causing debility of their affective bonds and their disintegration in society. Lastly, we stress the importance of social actions and policies that favor the integration of elderly people into society, as access routes to emancipation and autonomy.