The aim of the present article is to offer a tool to enlighten the comprehension of aggressive behavior and violent situations often found in educational institutions. The words "violence" and "aggressiveness" are not used in an unequivocal way, and the establishment of a map showing this fact allows designating places and ways of treatment specific for the phenomena. Following the theoretical model of the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, we will discuss the differences between aggressiveness and violence, illustrating them through the presentation of a case experienced by our health team in a public school in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In face of the difficulties found and the questions raised, we sought to show that the denaturalization of violence and the depathologization of aggressiveness offer us the possibility to propose actions which are not restricted to the control and correction of such manifestations, but can be more efficient in preventing the irruption and reproduction of violent situations for considering the social context in which they emerge and the subjective experiences involved.
Aggressiveness; Violence; Antisocial tendency; School; Social context; Psychoanalysis