Abstract

MELO, Manuella Bila de  and  AZEVEDO, Ana Karina Silva. Phenomenological-Existential Understandings about the Experience of Suicide in Childhood: “And does it Exist?”. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2025, vol.45, e278009.  Epub Feb 24, 2025. ISSN 1414-9893.  https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-3703003278009.

Childhood suicide is an invisible phenomenon and crossed by several taboos, among them is the myth of a happy childhood that believes that this phase of life is marked only by joys, dreams and lightness, free from pain and suffering. Thus, this article, the result of a master’s thesis, aims to understand the experience of child suicide from the narratives of children who expressed suicidal ideation or attempts. Thus, in line with the way of doing research in phenomenology, we propose a return to the things themselves in order to try to understand them. In this work, we will present excerpts from the meetings that took place with two participating children, who brought in their speeches unveilings of stories that brought loneliness as a mark of a time and narratives crossed by violence and conflicts, in the face of the inhospitableness of a world where existence became burden and death presented itself in the web of meanings as a way to deal with suffering.

Keywords : Suicide; Childhood; Death; Suffering; Phenomenological Research.

        · abstract in Portuguese | Spanish     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )