Entre o afeto e a necessidade: Irmãos que criam irmãos na formação do sujeito sob a ótica psicanalítica

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the subjective impacts on the formation of the subject when adolescent siblings take on parental roles, using psychoanalysis as our framework. From a psychoanalytic perspective, we investigate how this role reversal affects the emotional and identity development of these adolescents. The study is relevant because it highlights situations in which caregiving can interfere with the process of subjectivation, by problematizing, through a psychoanalytic lens, the dynamics of care and responsibility between siblings. This research is theoretical, drawing on authors such as Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Jacques Lacan (1901–1981), Donald Woods Winnicott (1896–1971), and contemporary psychoanalytic scholars. The results indicate that early assumption of responsibility impacts the process of subjectivation, potentially generating emotional overload, the erasure of adolescence, and identity conflicts. It is concluded that it is necessary to recognize the uniqueness of these experiences and promote strategies of listening and care, underscoring the need for public policies aimed at support and protection.