Adolescence and substance use: possible approaches
This work was developed inspired by experiences of clinical listening to adolescents who were impelled to seek solutions in the face of anguish experienced in this time, where everything that was consistent during childhood undergoes changes, such as bodily changes, separation from the parental figure, meeting with the real of sexuality. Through the loss of childhood symbolic references, some young people find through substance use a way out, albeit temporary, to deal with the discomfort involved in this phase of life. In order to discuss this subject, we covered a brief theoretical path from the constitution of the subject to the beginning of adolescence. Then, when approaching substance use, we present the concepts of phallic signifier, phallic jouissance and superego. Finally, with the idea of illustrating the theory, without the intention of generalizing and proving it, we present clinical and cinematographic vignettes, trying to visualize the adolescent impasse and how substance use can fulfill the function of alleviating adolescent anguish.