“Together to build a life in common”: A solidarity approach to psychoanalytic interventions in the community

This article is a collective writing of the FEPAL (Federación Psicoanalítica de América Latina) study group Psychoanalysts in the Community established in March 2020. The group involves psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts in training who represent psychoanalytic institutions and groups of psychoanalysts from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador. Our extended courses, research and teaching aim at sustaining “solidarity rhythms”, that is, the necessity of empathy and bonding in regard to enjoying meeting with others. We privilege the “voices of the subjects” in different communities, taking into account their feelings, thoughts and theories. In order to build a humanizing development, it is necessary to be present in a stable way, where a significant attachment is lacking. The first step in the construction of projects is dreaming. In the case of working in the community it is possible to start the transformation of some forms of existence into others that are more promising for the community, the groups, and the subjects. In this article, we discuss the terms solidarity ethics (i.e. the absence of lies), solidarity bond (i.e. altruism), interdisciplinary work (i.e. different disciplines), solidarity diversity (i.e. the acceptance of heterogeneity), and active listening (to be receptive to the other), as common denominators of many Latin American projects. These terms constitute the framework that favors the completion of subjectivation when it was interrupted or spoilt. The absence of ethics, affectional bonds and receptivity damage psychic and social growth.