Relatos de familiares sobre autismo a partir da teoria lacaniana dos quatro discursos

Abstract

In recent years there has been a significant increase in children and adolescents diagnosed as autistic. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the autism diagnosis on the family members reports through Lacan’s four discourses theory. Eight mothers, three fathers, one

brother, one sister, and one grandfather of adolescents diagnosed with autism were interviewed, whose contents were organized by type of family members and analyzed from Lacan’s the four discourses theory. The mothers highlighted the appeasement of suffering (discourse of the hysteric) after the autism diagnosis by a health professional (discourse of the master), a discursive circulation that works for a while because the care overload did not completely cease; For the fathers/men the autism diagnosis of their sons was either received as submission to the mothers and health professionals (discourse of the master) as refusal with the reinforcement of traditional masculinity; the brothers and grandfather either conflicted with the mothers and health professionals about the autism (discourse of the master) or refused it by providing solidarity to the particularities of the autist (similar to analyst’s discourse). These different circulations of discourses among (types of) family members highlight the difficulties about the social demands of parenting, care, and togetherness that can obscure the singularities of autistic people.

Keywords: Autism. Parenting. Discourse theory.