THE CONSTRUCTION OF DEMAND FOR THE CHILDREN'S ANALYTIC PROCESS

Abstract

This qualitative article, based on a literature review, aims to understand the process of constructing demand in child psychoanalysis, differentiating between the complaint presented by parents and the symptom manifested by the child, and the child's own demand. Based on a literature review grounded in classic and contemporary authors such as Freud, Winnicott, Melanie Klein, and Anna Freud, the importance of analytical listening focused on the child-subject was discussed, recognizing them as the bearer of an unconscious and unique desire. The study shows that, in child clinical practice, the beginning of the analytical process is not established by the complaint of the caregivers, but by the possibility of transforming this complaint into a demand that represents the child's desire. The role of play as the main means of communication and symbolic expression of the unconscious is highlighted, allowing the analyst to access psychic contents that are not manifested through speech. It was observed that the construction of demand in child psychoanalysis occurs through sensitive and ethical listening, which welcomes the child's suffering and enables the symbolic elaboration of their experiences, making the analytical space a field of subjectivation and constitution of the subject.