PSYCHOLOGY, LITERATURE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Abstract

The relations between Psychology and Literature have been discussed in academic circles, above all, from an interest in problematizing how human nature can be described and understood not as if it were an exclusive object of a given field, but as an element capable of producing reflections that cross areas, which should promote the effect of bringing them together and not moving away, as we observed in contemporary science and in health training itself. From this gap, the objective of this theoretical study is to reflect on the possible approximations between Psychology and literature, having mental health as its field of application. The framework adopted for this reflection is that of psychoanalysis, mainly based on the contributions of the English psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott. From triggering concepts such as identification, transitional object and playing, it is problematized how reading, writing and contact with literature can be powerful therapeutic tools for emotional maturation. In the field of health education, despite the distance from professionals in areas such as literature, it is recommended that the resumption of this contact may be important in the sense of promoting more humanized care.