Psychoanalyse, institution and social tie: the group as a device

Abstract

Psychoanalysis has been facing a remarkable challenge nowadays: its establishment in public health institutions in Brazil. This essay aims to establish a dialog between on psychoanalysis and institution, proposing a theoretical examination about some possibilities of group work supported by this theoretical perspective. Our intention is not to raises questions to the psychoanalytic clinic method, but to promote new reflections that may contribute to the change of this field of knowledge. Taking the Psychosocial Care Centers for alcohol and other drugs users (CAPSad) as point of departure we developed our reasons. First, we presented some of the meaning/value of the word institution, associating them to the text Civilization and Its Discontents (Freud) and to the psychoanalytic approach to the toxicomania (drug addiction). After, we introduced the notion of amplified clinic (clínica ampliada) with the intention to articulate the psychoanalytic clinic and the institutional demand for the toxicomania treatment.