Phenomenological-hermeneutical considerations of somatization in adolescence: a case study

The objective of this research consisted in understanding the phenomenon of somatic illness, in the light of Martin Heidegger's Hermeneutic-Phenomenology, considering a case that had been accompanied by a team of health assistance of a university hospital. This article is a hermeneutic-phenomenological study with qualitative character that used as an investigation methodology the single-case subject. The subject was 15-year-old girl who had been complaining of choking when was hospitalized for medical treatment and diagnosis investigation. A semi-structured interview and a report of psychological service that was elaborated from psychological attendance with the subject were used as instruments of data collection. The present study provides evidence that somatization can be existentially analyzed by a privatization way of the fundamental character from Dasein's view of being as a lack related to her way of being-in-the-world-with-others. Moreover, the study evidenced the importance of psychotherapeutic context in the privilege of the participant in meeting herself, while a space was made available in which the subject could return to her experience and speak about her suffering (expressed in form of bodying forth), recognizing and giving it a significance. Therefore, the study allows for the inference that the psychotherapeutic process led to the disappearance of somatic symptom.