DREAMS UNDER STATE VIOLENCE: PSYCHIC EFFECTS OF NECROPOLITICS IN THREE WOMEN'S DREAM NARRATIVES

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the psychological effects of police violence in Brazil based on the analysis of three dreams narrated by women affected by this reality: an intern who participates in the coordination of a psychoanalytic group device, a mother who lost her son to police brutality, and an analysand who is mourning her father (a former police officer involved in lethal operations). We present group and individual dream listening programs developed from a master's thesis and a clinical situation in a private practice, in which the grieving mothers and daughter and the university student were able to benefit from a space in which fear, anguish, and indignation could be named and shared. We discuss how dream listening operates as a way of working through trauma, grief, and building a space for sharing experiences among women who are outraged by state violence. The dreams analyzed show that police violence affects mothers, daughters, and psychology professionals, highlighting the magnitude of this social phenomenon. The importance of clinical-political devices in listening to these people is highlighted, in order to enable the elaboration of grief and trauma, especially in the face of social denial of the value of lost lives. Therefore, we advocate the expansion of these listening strategies for both women and men affected by necropolitics.