PSYCHOLOGY AND TRANSEXUALITY: KNOWLEDGE AND DISTANCE
psychology; transgender; transsexuality; psychotherapy; hermeneutics-dialectic.
Although we have the psychologist as a mandatory professional in a work team that performs a significant part of the provision of care to transgender people, these experiences occupy little space for reflection in the field of psychological action, and the production in the area is carried out by few researchers. We wonder if this psychology professional is prepared to deal with the trans public and its characteristic demands. Therefore, the objective of this work is to understand the know-how that is being experienced in the practices of psychological care for trans people, in order to contribute to the construction of knowledge specific to psychology, more sensitive in the health care of the trans population. And as specific objectives we have: (a) know the practices of psychological care for trans people, from the perspective of trans people; (b) know the practices of psychological care for trans people, from the perspective of the psychologists who attended them; (c) investigate through which means (training, courses, readings, theoretical perspectives) knowledge about different gender identities was built by the interviewed psychologists; (d) investigate what is the conception of transsexuality by psychologists; e) identify good practices of psychologists in successful experiences of care in the conception of trans people. Qualitative research was used. As methodological strategies, we used an in-depth interview with a script and a field diary. The collaborators consisted of 5 people who declared themselves as transgender people and who underwent psychological care in Natal, and 5 psychologists from the city of Natal who attended trans people. The analysis and interpretation of the narratives was based on hermeneutic-dialectical principles that sought to interpret the context, reasons and logic of speeches, actions and interrelationships between groups and institutions. From the dialogue with the narratives, we reach three thematic axes: The construction of knowledge about gender identities in psychology; Revisiting psychotherapy with transgender people; and, Psychotherapy and transgenderism: what do we have to learn? In the first axis, we identify transsexuality understood as a fluid path, in transit, not in accordance with the cisnorm. But, we could also notice associations to suffering, some mistakes still in relation to language, to fundamental concepts of existence, mainly with regard to the sex-gender system, and sexuality/gender identity. Regarding education, there was a total absence of specific subjects in the undergraduate curriculum of our interviewees about gender and sexuality. In the second axis, we found that all respondents had negative experiences with the first professionals they sought, whereas in relation to the psychotherapists they were attending at the time of the interview, they only attribute positive meanings to these relationships. Regarding the professionals, fears and insecurities emerged in the face of a “new” demand, learning about gender takes place from practical experience and the transformation of personal and professional training into a psychotherapy that cures two. We also discuss the role of the psychotherapeutic report, diverging between guardianship and release. In the third axis we find an urgent need for more knowledge about the demands of gender in psychology training. The phenomenological suspension as an essential feature to get in touch with the demand, as well as the psychotherapist's attitudes of empathy, respect, acceptance, acceptance and openness and an emancipatory look. And, finally, the recognition that the discussion of gender identities concerns everyone, bringing as essential the personal process of therapy and/or self-knowledge and deconstruction of their own prejudices. Anchored in the principles of human rights, and understanding health as an inalienable right of everyone, this study hopes to provide reflections capable of helping psychologists who deal with transgender people in their daily work, bringing clues to the promotion of a more sensitive psychotherapy to the demands of non-cisgender people.