INSIGHT AND ASPERGER´S DISORDER
Asperger’s Disorder; Insight; Dialogism; Cultural-Historical Psychology; Autism
The present study aimed to expand the comprehension about the processes of insight in the Asperger’s Disorder (AD). Insight can be understood as the knowledge one has about his diagnosis and the meaning constructed from it. The development of insight is taken not as a personal mental function, but as a intersubjective phenomenon, forged in social relations. The study has its basis on the theoretical framework of Historical–cultural psychology with focus in the genetical development perspective. As a central feature of this perspective are the processes of meaning construction, considering the social-cultural insertion of the individual and his experiences. Thereby, the study advocates that the understanding of “what it is like to be an Asperger” has to go beyond the socially shared idea of cognitive disruption as only features of this condition. The effort of comprehending meanings and experiences of these individuals becomes imperative. Therefore, the insight phenomena emerges as a complex construct, demanding a deep and broad research. In order to achieve the study goals, activities to investigate the Asperger experience were proposed in three steps. First, it was produced a narrative surrounding the central question that guides the study: “what is it like to have asperger’s?”. A mediation strategy was used as facilitating tool to the narrative production. It involved an alien character to whom the participants should talk to, explaining the asperger experience, since they came from a planet where there was no such thing. After the initial production, an semi-structured interview was used aiming to investigate aspects regarding the formal knowledge they had of the diagnosis. In sequence, another activity was proposed intending to investigate their ability to identify AD characteristics in others and, at the same time, facilitating the access and production os meaning to their own experiences towards the diagnosis. Three individuals with ages between 15 and 20 years old participated of the study, selected by convenience. They all had a previous diagnosis of AD and had knowledge of it since at least 5 years. That was considered enough time to the construction of meanings about the diagnosis. Also participated in the study their respective parents, who took part in the same investigation steps as their subjects and responded as if they were those. Results showed that they produced narratives about their AD diagnosis and that in their discourse there were many elements notedly present in the media and scientific material. As of the meanings surrounding the diagnosis, is was noted that media elements were also present, but specially approximations were seen between their and their parents perceptions. Therefore, it was noted that the discourse constitution about their own diagnosis for the AD individuals had many influences of the social discourses, notedly of closest people. The results sugest that a characteristic os the processes of insight in AD can be described as a disruption in the transition from a monologic to a dialogic way of thinking. It I believed that the results here exposed can contribute to the comprehension of the singularity of the existence and subjective experience of these individuals.