OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY TRANSFORMING THE EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS OF ADOLESCENTS IN THE PUBLIC NETWORK OF THE COUNTY OF SÃO GONÇALO

Abstract

Half of the young people registred in public education in the city of São Gonçalo are in the age group of 15 to 17 years old, who do not usually verbalize what they feel but reveal their feelings and emotions through the tone of voice, facial/body expression or in other non-verbal ways. The study aims to analyze whether emotion and feelings favor the creation of affective bonds, expand their communication and social interaction. Descriptive/exploratory study, with a qualitative focus, based on sociopoetics and Occupational Therapy, whose focus is the body, capable of articulating the issue of emotion and feeling, seeking to interconnect theoretical and practical subsidies related to the use of the expressive modality of construction, to help teenagers in their natural development process. Data analysis was based on behavior change and projection in socio mythic places. Thirty-three high school and elementary school students participated in the research. They opted for the surreal place – fault – path - tunnel - representative of emotion and feelings. Through the construction activity, uncounted discovery options emerged, which favored emotional balance, developed expression, creativity, and imagination, enabling the release of tensions and the exteriorization of joys, fears, desires, and fantasies, because the act of building it supply self-knowledge, it provided opportunities for maturation and recognition of their identity. It was concluded that it is necessary to expand the action of Occupational Therapy with adolescents so that they can express their emotional and social issues and develop their self-knowledge.