To publish original works which may contribute to the knowledge and development of Psychology and related fields, such as theoretical articles and essays emphasizing some classical issues such as Memory, Family, Conscience, Unconscious, and Alterity.
Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Psicologia
Todo o conteúdo de Psicologia USP está licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons BY-NC, exceto onde identificado diferentemente. A aprovação dos textos para publicação implica a cessão imediata e sem ônus dos direitos de publicação para a revista Psicologia USP, que terá a exclusividade de publicá-los primeiramente. A revista incentiva autores a divulgarem os pdfs com a versão final de seus artigos em seus sites pessoais e institucionais, desde que estes sejam sem fins lucrativos e/ou comerciais, mencionando a publicação original em Psicologia USP.
Attentive listening and Pluriversal reading of a public school in São Paulo: a case study of the school institution
Faced with the violence that hit the school community in Brazil in 2023, this article proposes reflections on the genesis of this violence and ways of coping with it. Its initial question was whether this ‘language in act’ can become a racist ‘passage to the act’ — as Sodré points out regarding the ambiguity of the founding violence of Brazilian society — considering Bateson’s formulations on the double bind. African philosophies can offer a fertile field for re-establishing the broken bonds in the school community and converting this tendency toward indiscriminate violence into a transformative insurgency that can confront the ambiguity in the face of racism the Brazilian society insists on denying. Finally, psychoanalytical reflections on institutions were essential for understanding the investigated defensive dynamics of the school community.
the school institution and its vicissitudes
Copyright (c) 2026 Psicologia USP https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
“The woman does not exist”. And what about the man?
Based on the Lacanian aphorism “The Woman does not exist,” this study aims to question if The Man exists. To this end, a review of Lacan’s construction on the nonexistence of The Woman was conducted via his sexuation formulas, followed by an exploration, grounded in Lacan’s own teachings, of considerations that support the nonexistence of The Man. This foundation is supplemented by a discussion on how masculinity has been shaped by discourses on the virile ideal that seek to give it some consistency, which, in contemporary times, fail to define what it means to be a man due to disruptions in the patriarchal order. This study concludes that masculinity is plural and that the idea of a closed set in which all are alike merely reflects a monotony sustained by the phallic reference.
Psychonalytic Formation and the Epistemic Turn: The Colonial Rift in Freudian Malaise
This study briefly overviews the shaping of modern rationality and its civilizational paradigm in light of a Fanonian sociogenesis. It first sets the stage for a historical-critical reflection on Civilization and Its Discontents. This elaboration, which includes other texts by Freud, seeks to question the extent of the racial dimension in the author’s formulations and its implications for a clinical practice in Brazil. A certain disalienating ethic inherent to psychoanalysis highlights the limitations of the field in naming racism within contemporary suffering, avoiding the risk of considering it as Freudian “malaise” and, thus, as a certain condition of social life within a reified capitalist system. The argumentative path in this study proposes the construction of a pluri-epistemic paradigm in the training of psychoanalysts that favors the opening of a sociopolitical listening to suffering in Brazilian soil.
Perception of climate change: methodological strategies for overcoming social and psychological barriers
We describe methodological strategies used in our studies on the perception of climate change to contribute to research and intervention related to individual and collective engagement in mitigation actions. Climate change is a very complex phenomenon fraught with uncertainty. As it involves planetary dimensions, its “legibility” is of the order of social communication and not of direct experience, being influenced by the terminology used for naming it. We present four topics that we have dedicated ourselves to, always using a multi-methodological perspective: perception and appropriation; spatial scale; temporal scale; and communication for engagement. We report studies conducted with children, adolescents and adults, using combinations of techniques like questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus groups/conversation circles, from whose analysis and interpretation we extracted very clear overviews of results, which considered cultural characteristics of the groups investigated and included several of the concepts present in the international literature in the area.
Copyright (c) 2025 Psicologia USP https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Psicologia e mudança climática: diálogos para um tempo em transição
O texto introduz o dossiê Psicologia e Mudança Climática, publicado pela Psicologia USP, situando-o no contexto da emergência climática global e da proximidade da COP30, a ser realizada em Belém do Pará. Organizado por psicólogos ambientais, o dossiê reúne contribuições que exploram dimensões afetivas, cognitivas, culturais e comunitárias das relações entre pessoas e ambiente. Os trabalhos, embora diversos em abordagem teórica e metodológica, convergem na defesa de uma Psicologia comprometida com a transformação social e ambiental, capaz de articular subjetividade e coletividade, ciência e política. Inspirado por uma perspectiva latino-americana e descolonial, o conjunto de textos afirma o papel da Psicologia na construção de respostas éticas e emancipatórias à crise climática, convocando à práxis e à imaginação de outros futuros possíveis.
Dialogues of knowledge in the Pantanal: contributions of traditional communities to climate change adaptation
This study investigates how the traditional knowledge of Pantanal communities is being reconfigured given the impacts of climate change on flood dynamics. Through a qualitative and participatory approach, the research shows that despite the challenges posed, these communities have mobilized their knowledge to develop adaptive strategies such as productive diversification, the revival of ancient techniques, the strengthening of solidarity networks, and openness to collaborations. The results reinforce the importance of local knowledge for building paths to sustainability and point to the importance of dialogue between different forms of knowledge. The study brings theoretical, methodological, and applied contributions, as well as reflections on pathways for future research and actions aimed at adaptation in the Pantanal. The experiences of the communities offer valuable lessons for rethinking relationships with nature and between knowledge systems in face of the climate crisis.
Otherness and affinity towards diversity in the making of sustainable ways of life
Based on reflections grounded in theoretical-empirical experiences stemming from our research and extension trajectory at the interface between environmental psychology and anthropology, we address aspects that impact collective action and the adoption of sustainable behaviours. Based on a qualitative-interpretative analysis of life stories from 10 people working in the environmental field, we discuss modes of action guided and motivated by experiences of alterity—reflections and reorientations of conduct, practices, perspectives, and moralities engendered in encounters, especially with non-hegemonic social ways of life and organization, such as the historical experiences of traditional peoples and communities. Finally, we discuss the emergence of future images that serve as pathways to promote ecologically correct practices to disseminate a culture of sustainability.
Eco-anxiety and Liberating Praxis: critical perspectives on political-environmental education
The phenomenon of “eco-anxiety,” a psychosocial issue influenced by climate change, was discussed in this theoretical essay that bridges Psychology, Biology, and Philosophy. Educational principles for scientific communication and insights for transformative praxis were highlighted. Drawing on non-hegemonic authors, the concepts of “Latin American Fatalism” by Ignacio Martín-Baró, the heuristic correlate of “Capitalist Realism” by Mark Fisher, and “Necropolitics” by Achille Mbembe were explored. The analysis also considered ideas from Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of Liberation” and lectures by Ailton Krenak, an indigenous environmentalist and philosopher. The conclusion is that social transformation requires a connection between critical awareness of reality and concrete action, driven by hope. The future is not predetermined, as, despite scientific projections, history is dynamic and can be redirected, especially through class struggle. Understanding and combating necropolitics are essential in this process.
Connection to nature and pro-environmental behavior among children in Jakarta: the role of experiences of nature
This study aims to examine whether connection to nature mediates the relationship between children’s experiences of nature and their pro-environmental behavior in Jakarta. Participants were elementary school students aged 9–10 years (n=291), recruited using convenience sampling. Findings indicate that connection to nature does not mediate the effect of either direct and vicarious experiences of nature on pro-environmental behavior. The results can inform government agencies, educators, and communities in developing strategies to promote pro-environmental behavior via both direct and vicarious experiences of nature.
direct and vicarious experiences of nature
Extreme weather events: a discussion based on environmental racism and gender issues
This academic article explores the relationship between extreme weather events and social inequalities, focusing on environmental racism and gender issues. The study highlights how climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, especially women and Black and Brown populations. The research argues that psychology can play a crucial role in mitigating these impacts by promoting integrated actions and inclusive public policies. It emphasizes the importance of considering gender and race in responses to climate change, recognizing the central role of women in environmental protection. The article also examines how environmental psychology can contribute to psycho-environmental awareness and education strategies aimed at reducing human impact on the environment. Finally, the work highlights the need for collective action and public policies that promote climate justice and combat environmental racism.
Brazilian psychologists and the provision of services mediated by Digital Information and Communication Technologies: regulations, and challenges
The use of digital information and communication technologies (DICT) to provide healthcare services has grown with the diffusion of the internet, constituting a field of psychology since the 1990s that significantly grown in the COVID-19 pandemic. This theoretical essay aimed to discuss the scenario of DICT use by psychologists in Brazil based on a historical perspective, finding trends and gaps in professional regulation. Its discussions followed a survey of data and regulations on the transparency portal of the Brazilian Federal Council of Psychology. The regulation and expansion of DICT use by psychologists in Brazil occurred later than in other countries due to social and market demands. Current demands include expanding research and updating education.
Being a mother with another mother: potentialities of the role of psychology in the context of non-heteronormative families
Reaffirming the ethical-political commitment of psychology to diversity and democratic society requires understanding non-heteronormative family configurations, embracing the potential of multiple possibilities of being a family. This theoretical-reflexive study aims to understand the contemporary construction of dual motherhood and reflect on the potentialities of psychologists’ actions in the face of maternal experiences within affective-sexual diversity. We argue that the gendered construction of hegemonic knowledge, which associates motherhood with the hetero-patriarchal-normative family, contributes to the historical erasure of dissenting configurations. Such silencing impacts knowledge production and affects professional training in psychology, crystallizing barriers to access for families composed of two mothers and their children to psychological care sensitive to their unique demands. This signals the urgency of promoting the appropriation of knowledge and practices against the invisibilization at the intersection of motherhood and sexual diversity.
The effect of questions on writing summaries of narrative and expository texts by students
This study investigated three aspects of summary writing: the effect of the conditions that produced the summaries; the effect of the type of text being summarized (narrative and expository); and children’s difficulties. Fifth graders in elementary school were divided into two groups according to two summary writing conditions: Condition 1 (with questions about the base text) and Condition 2 (without questions about the base text). The data showed that (i) the conditions in which the summaries were produced failed to affect the quality of the summaries, (ii) that children produced more elaborate summaries of the expository text than of the narrative text, and (iii) that their main difficulty involved remaining faithful to the content of the base text. The questions had no facilitating effect on the writing of summaries. Moreover, the quality of the productions varied depending on the characteristics of the text summarized.
The experience of competitive anxiety or “athlete nervousness”: a phenomenological understanding
This study problematizes the traditional concept of anxiety in sport psychology, highlighting its technical character according to M. Heidegger. We examine how the sciences tend to stabilize this concept by defining it as a set of propositions to observe, measure, predict, and control athletes’ behavior — deeming this approach as the sole legitimate means of accessing reality in the scientific field. In contrast, we propose a phenomenological perspective to assess competitive anxiety, describing forms of manifestation of this phenomenon, developing phenomenological considerations on anxiety as an affective tonality, and understanding it as a constitutive dimension of sporting practice that follows, enables, and opens the field of competition to athletes.
Genesis and structure of automatic writing: Freudism, automatism, and parapsychology
This study investigates the influence of Régis and Hesnard’s Freudism on the genesis and structure of the surrealist experience of language known as automatic writing. Although it acknowledges the leading role of Freudian ideas on the genesis of this experience of language, it but argues that automatic writing stems from the synthesis between Freudism, the concept of automatism in parapsychology, and the psychology of Pierre Janet. This study defends that this synthesis of references aimed to develop an categorically surrealist experience of language beyond the operative mimesis of psychoanalysis and other theories. From this perspective, this study aims to contribute to studies on the relationship between art and psychoanalysis and on the history of psychoanalysis in France.
Psychology, climate change, and renewable energy sources: psychology of place and popular resistance
Based on a study on popular struggles related to the construction of the “Rei dos Ventos I” wind farm in Galinhos-RN, this study reflects on the role of psychology in the face of global climate change and the expansion of wind farms in Brazil under a popular perspective. By critically assessing the phenomenon, we understand its advancement as a reproducer of the expansive dynamics of capital within the framework of the main proposals to face climate change giving rise to a “green-faced” capitalism. We discuss an ethical-political perspective for environmental psychology regarding the environmental issue and climate change that takes the perspective of oppressed majorities, thinking about climate change from its roots and understanding that the real confrontation of the problem occurs by strengthening collective struggles that strain the capitalist social order.
The meaning of accountability in the female context of socioeducational internment measures
The regulatory frameworks inaugurated a new model of socio-education aimed at accountability for infractions. This historical-cultural psychology study aimed to analyze accountability meanings and practices in institutionalized adolescents and professionals who work in a female socio-educational unit. A semi-structured interview was used, the data of which were analyzed by constructing categories. Results showed that the meaning of accountability reduced itself to individual accountability focused on cognitive aspects leading to blaming the adolescents and disregarding their macrosocial dimension; such meaning emerged in institutional accountability practices, which involve educational, therapeutic, and, above all, retributive actions that inflict pain. Thus, we found that a protective discourse based on the logic of institutional security justifies the expansion of interdictions and deprivations, increasing the possibilities of punishing.
The June 2013 days have been the subject of numerous discussions in social psychology, sociology, and political science and constitute an important analyzer of the vicissitudes of the democratic system in Brazil. This essay cross-sectionally reads psychoanalysis, political science, and its author’s experiences as a professor and researcher at a federal university, a psychoanalyst, and an activist. This essay describes two events that took place at the extremes of the decade from 2012 to 2023 in the university context that serve as an empirical and experiential substrate of the problems concerning political action, desire, and democracy that emerged from the so-called “June Days.” The first event involves the strike by teachers of federal institutions of higher education that preceded the 2013 journeys and the second reports an experience of representation in May 2023.
Professional stress, burnout syndrome, and pandemic correlations
This study aims to differentiate occupational stress from burnout syndrome and to correlate them with the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic. This study first carried out a literature review to conceptualize its chosen terms and to find their symptoms and instruments to diagnose them to then discuss their possible manifestation due to the need for work and home adaptation resulting from the social isolation imposed by COVID-19. Although both aspects bring psychological distress and socially and emotionally affect individuals, their differences require a unique approach from psychology professionals in their everyday organizational life.
Process evaluation of a psychotherapeutic program for elderly people with depression
The provision of psychotherapeutic practices for older people with depression in Brazil remains deficient. The projected increase in this population requires improving health interventions in this area. This study evaluated demand, reach, and delivered and received doses based on the Cognitive Behavioral Care Program for Older People with Depression in a public polyclinic. Quantitative and qualitative instruments were applied, including recording forms and semi-structured interviews. In the first 19 months, 75 people were referred, 45% were screened, 30% were treated, and 8% were discharged. Attendance ranged from 36 to 100%, with good satisfaction and engagement among participants. The behavioral module was the most used (27%), corroborating studies on interventions to treat geriatric depression. The completeness rate of the action plans totaled 60%, indicating the need for adjustments. The process evaluation showed important aspects for improvements and adaptations of the Program to its context and target audience.
Critical formation in dispute: the psychosocial dynamics of a housing movement
Based on the theoretical framework of liberation psychology, we seek to investigate the possibilities of critical formation provided by an occupation of housing movement that focuses on their respective collective spaces. Participant observation and interviews with key representatives of each identified space (a Pentecostal church, capoeira circles, and general assemblies) were adopted as field procedures. We observed that the practices, discourses, and relationships of each collective space enable specific social interests and divergent commitments that more greatly tend toward an emancipatory perspective or endorsement of the established order, strengthening or challenging the political project of the social movement. The community environment of the occupation, crossed by competing psychosocial processes, expresses itself in a certain conflict that finds in the critical formation of the collective a situation of dispute, whose elements go back to the class struggle itself.
Self-deprecating memes and suicidal humor: a literature review and image analysis
This literature review and image analysis aimed to study self-deprecating memes and humor with suicidal connotations considering the current society and its demands as precursors of this phenomenon that is largely present in generations Y and Z. We understand sharing self-deprecating memes as an escape valve from the constant demands for happiness and productivity operating in capitalism in which individuals in depressive states can feel embraced and represented by identification in memes or even more hopeless about the world and the future.
Adenomatous Polyposis Coli: the unheimlich of a heredity
This study discusses the anguish due to familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) according to a clinical and genetic study with a large family living in a rural area of northeastern Brazil based on the Freudian concept of unheimilich. Family members affected by FAP (a hereditary predisposition syndrome to cancer resulting from germline variants in the APC gene) for seven generations were interviewed. The qualitative treatment of the interviews resulted in the following categories of analysis: Transmission of an (in)familial mark and Sentence of a family: the unheimlich of inherited death. FAP constitutes a mark of the family that identifies and links them and causes fear as it inscribes their sentence. The unheimilich lies in the repetition of the same death in each generation, causing anguish as its effects are old acquaintances.
Psychosocial reports as a tool to support struggles for land and territory in the Amazon
The exploitation of the Amazon transforms traditional territories and common goods into commodities linked to the accumulation chain of the international division of labor. This study addresses the developments of this process, describing the causes and relationships related to the production of psychological suffering in an Amazonian community that falls victims of evictions and violations due to its territorial struggle. The theoretical framework of this study is based on historical and dialectical materialism and its methodological tools included interviews, group discussions, workshops, and document analysis. The endured evictions and violence caused psychosocial trauma, social humiliation and personal and community uprooting. The relations between psychological suffering and the imposed objective conditions highlight the social nature of these experiences. We emphasize the production of the psychosocial report as a tool in the fight for justice, historical reparation, and strengthening collective processes.
Psychosocial Intervention for Community Recovery: Experience Report on the 2023 floods on the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul
This study analyzes the 70 days between the major climate disaster in the municipality of Caraá (RS) on June 15, 2023, on-site psychosocial assistance, and the post-disaster intervention on August 25. The reflections that make up this study describe the experience of its five authors as members of the team of volunteers who, together with the management of the municipality and the government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, worked in the recovery phase of the disaster and afterward. Thus, this experience report aims to describe and analyze the interventions that provided psychosocial care to those affected and highlight the bond established with the public servants who were the axis of care and at the same time victims.
Residual children: transinstitutional trajectories of children and adolescents with disabilities in institutional sheltering
This study aims to discuss the ways in which a type of person is produced at the intersection of experiences of institutional care, diagnoses of mental disorders, and/or intellectual disability. This documental study bases itself upon the narrative of an institutionalized teenager to produce an analytical device of the classificatory status that segregate people and their institutional experiences. Results show that diagnoses pointing to intellectual disability in people who live in institutional care violate their rights, hospitalizing them in psychiatric hospitals for periods that exceed medical criteria and prohibiting them from sharing community and school life. The interrelation of neuropsychiatric knowledge, medicalization, and the direct and questionable correlation between disability/mental disorders and dangerousness support these practices.
The experience of post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth disorder in burn patients
Burns constitute a global public health problem that affects several individuals’ dimensions — including psychological ones, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — that worsen post-traumatic growth (PTC). this study aimed to understand the experience of PTSD and CPT in burn patients undergoing rehabilitation to investigate such complex experiences. This qualitative and exploratory research was carried out with 15 participants who responded to a semi-structured interview guide. their data were analyzed on IRaMuTeQ with manual content analysis. Answers were organized into five classes that included everything from the moment of the accident that caused the burn to the positive aspects and personal growth after the trauma. The burn experience brings signs of PTSD due to the incident, hospitalization, and post-treatment. However, the possibility of CPT develops from the reframing of memories related to the burn and adaptive coping resources.
A behavioral model to study decision-making involved in climate action
The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda emphasizes the need for actions that mitigate climate change effects and assist populations in adapting to the impact of extreme climate events. Emerging countries such as Brazil still require psychological studies on climate actions. This study aims to defend a research agenda that aids researchers, professionals, and policy decision-makers finding possibly relevant variables in the study of the relationship between climate change and behavior. Given the need of finding behavioral profiles susceptible to interventions or to the impact of extreme climate events, concepts from different psychological fields constitute potential psychological moderators of the relationship between climate change and behavior. The end of this study offers a differential susceptibility hypothesis as a method to find relevant moderators in the Brazilian study of climate actions.
The experiences of family members of disabled people due to social distancing or isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic
The measures adopted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the population’s way of life, impacting the daily lives of people with disabilities (PwD) and their families. This research aimed to understand how families of people with disabilities (PwD) experienced social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a qualitative approach based on the perspective of social health psychology, nine interviews were carried out with family members of PwD at an Apae in a municipality in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Thematic content analysis outlined three categories: solation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; denialist and care-for-life discourses; and female caregivers. This research shows the vulnerability of people with disabilities and their caregivers that precedes the pandemic and is reinforced by it, highlighting the need to expand and strengthen social and educational inclusion networks.