THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF PSYCHIC INTEGRITY IN THE DECISIONS OF THE FEDERAL SUPREME COURT: AN ANALYSIS OF ITS PROTECTION

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze the way in which the Federal Supreme Court (STF) recognizes and applies the legal protection of psychic integrity in the context of personality rights. Considering the absence of a consolidated normative definition, we seek to understand how this right has been interpreted in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, identifying the challenges for its consolidation as an autonomous concept in the Brazilian legal system. To this end, the deductive method was adopted, starting from the theoretical and normative foundation of personality rights for the specific analysis of psychic integrity in the judgments of the STF. As a research technique, content analysis was used, examining judgments selected from the official tool of jurisprudence of the STF, using the key expression "psychic integrity" and applying methodological filters to identify decisions in which this right figured as a central element of the legal foundation. The results indicate that, although the STF mentions psychic integrity in various contexts – such as the protection of human dignity, public security, prison conditions, and crimes against individual freedom – its application occurs in a fragmented way and without a unified legal concept. It was identified that the protection of psychic integrity is more robust in cases of gender violence and degrading incarceration but relativized in the face of the maintenance of public order. It is concluded that the absence of a clear normative definition compromises the uniformity of the protection of this right, making it necessary to have a greater doctrinal and legislative systematization to ensure its effectiveness in the Brazilian legal system.