This work is a qualitative research that analyzed the implications on parents when their
child is routed to psychological assistance. The study was conducted at the Center for
Psychosocial Care for Children's Health in the city of Macapá / AP, it was used a
psychoanalytic understanding and was made from six semi-structured interviews with
couples who had their children referred by others (school, doctors, nutritionists and
others)for psychological monitoring. The interviews were subsequently transcribed
verbatim and subjected to content analysis according to Bardin (1977).The criterion for
participation in the research was that parents had children aged 6 to 11 years of age and
that the couples had stable relationship. It was found that the couples used comparisons
of children with the development of other children to better deal with the possibility of
lack of mental health of the child triggered by his/her psychological referral. Moreover,
they showed ambivalent feelings in relation to the psychological referral as feelings of
joy and shock, and reports of estrangement and emptying about the understanding of the
motivations that led to the formalization of routing. Although the parents had identified
a need for professional help earlier, none of the respondents sought the service
voluntarily, even after routing the discourse on normality in the child remained as a way
to get a confirmation of health or disease. It was found that all the couples made use of
ways of facing the feeling of unease caused by the psychological referral of the child,
especially for bearing the latent content that became closer from the
routing. Among the ways of facing, it was highlighted the request for help, this occurred
for all couples that sometimes, during the interviews, behaved themselves as rivals in
the request for assistance, expressed feelings of overload due to their child care,
especially the internal aspects (mental), and blame for the current situation of the child,
professional and emotional helplessness, as well as an attempt of denial and
standardization of the aspects of the development of the child. It was visible the
disorganized and inaccurate way in which the discourses were presented, especially
regarding the appointment of the symptoms of the children and for their feelings
in relation to the complaint represented by psychological referral. The psychological
referral, despite the ambivalent feelings aroused, was essential for the parents
have sought professional help and certainly, led the couples to a broader
understanding of health and mental development of children and of themselves,
a necessary recognition that indicates its importance in health, especially in mental
health, in regard to prevention and psychological treatment.
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