Domestic violence and hospital psychology: possibilities of action when a mother commits violence

Abstract

This work analyzes the performance of hospital psychologists in situations of maltreatment committed by the mother against her child. It tries to maintain a position of analysis and confrontation that considers the multifactorial character of a violence situation and also of the one that exists in the mother/child relationship. To achieve this, a bibliographic research was carried out in the Scielo and Lilacs databases and in the Library of the Center of Philosophy and Human Sciences of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). In the research, we used as keywords: maltreatment against children, violence against children, domestic violence, intrafamily violence. Through the bibliography review, the article makes a historical framing of violence committed against children, presents definitions of maltreatment and its types - physical, psychological and sexual maltreatment and neglect -, and different explanation models for violence against children (Reproductive, Psychodynamic, Sociological, Socio-psychological and Ecological Models), as well as their diverse consequences to children's development in the physical and psychological levels. In addition, the work presents possibilities for the hospital's and the health professionals' performance, emphasizing interdisciplinary action and the focus on the family. Finally, it discusses the performance of hospital psychologists, mainly towards the mother, based on one brief contextualization of the socio-historical transformations undergone by the models of family and of the place that children and women had in this institution. The article points to the fact that this professional must offer shelter and favor the improvement in the mother/child relationship, promoting a real dialogue and affective exchanges and disfavoring abusive practices.