Abstract

KOTHER MACEDO, Mônica Medeiros; GOBBI, Adriana Silveira  and  WASCHBURGERI, Evelise Machado Pinto. Body marks in adolescence: (im)possibilities of symbolic representation. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2009, vol.15, n.1, pp. 90-105. ISSN 1677-1168.

During adolescence, the body is affected by intense biological and psychological changes that can be compared to a kind of invasion experience. The psychic work inherent to adolescence finds a privileged scenario for expression in the body. Based on contributions of psychoanalysis, this article proposes a possible interpretation of problems typical of adolescence, in which the search for body marks and traces can express (im)possibilities of symbolic conflicts inherent to that period of life. Thus, body expressions are approached not only as resources for the elaboration of excess, characteristic of the experience of re-signifying in adolescence, but mainly as manifestations which can reveal a sort of failure in the process. The use of tattoos and piercing is approached in order to emphasize that these body marks come together with the intense changes that occur during adolescence. The investigation of those phenomena takes into account the uniqueness of that period of life.

Keywords : adolescence; body; psychoanalysis; tattoos; piercing.

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