Reissue of the Myth of Sisyphus? Challenges of family psychotherapy in judicial situations

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the challenges and limits in the search for alternatives for the performance of family therapists, in the care of judicial cases in Family Courts in Curitiba. It refers to the authors' activity as a working group at the Associação Paranaense de Terapia Familiar — APRTF, which since 2019 has been welcoming cases in litigation referred by court order to this Institution. The systemic approach was used as a theoretical base, considering that the complexity of these clinical situations requires an expanded view of intra and intersystemic relationships. The Myth of Sisyphus was used as a metaphor to reflect the dynamics established between the family system, the Justice System and the professionals acting as family therapists. We observed that the tone of litigation involves linear thinking, where the binary vision stands out, mobilizing a disjunctive reasoning of the problem. In this sense, clinical action should occur with the aim to interrupt repetition and maintenance of litigation.