Família em transição: a inclusão da família na compreensão da transição de gênero

Abstract

The expression “family in transition” has been used by different theoretical fields to address the ongoing changes in the contemporary nuclear family. It is a recurrent term in the approach of themes concerning the new family arrangements, which question the traditional nuclear family, and the new possibilities of family organization. The present study proposes the resignification of the aforementioned term to address the inclusion of the family in the understanding of the gender transition process, evidencing, in this phenomenon, a more complex and more inclusive perspective of the family group. Therefore, we approach the “transits”, or the movements triggered by the transition of gender in the family, considering the rearrangements and the managements that an event of this nature presupposes. Starting from the integrative approach of family psychotherapies, we used the concepts of grief and psychic readoption, derived from psychoanalytic approaches, to understand and implement the systemic dynamics of this process. The importance of understanding grief is justified by the movement intrinsic to the transition, deeply marked by the symbolic death of someone who, together or not with their family members, must be reborn from a new identity. The concept of psychic readoption, on the other hand, encompasses the inclusion of the emerging identity, throughout the transition, as part of the family clan. Such processes occur concomitantly in their interactional and psychodynamic dimensions, characterizing the family transit movement. In order to include the family in the understanding of the gender transition process, proposing a complex, dynamic approach that recognizes the family group in this phenomenon, we carried out a qualitative study through the elaboration of four semi-structured interviews carried out with the entire family group, bringing together the different components of the transgender plot. These interviews were recorded with the prior authorization of each participant, and the material collected was transcribed and interpreted using the content analysis method. As a result, we show that the transition of gender, carried out by the trans person, establishes a transition of a psychosocial nature in the family, affecting it individually and collectively at multiple levels. The family in transition presented itself as an emotionally complex group, potentially bereaved, possibly oblivious to their own condition, dealing with late adolescence and in the process of re-adopting, in this process, the emerging transidentity.