Roberto Freire (psychiatrist)

Joaquim Roberto Corrêa Freire was born in São Paulo on 18 January 1927.^[3] Freire studied medicine before going on to conduct research in electrophysiology and cellular biophysics with Carlos Chagas Filho at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.^[3] In 1953, Freire moved to Paris to work at the Collège de France in experimental endocrinology with Robert Courrier.^[3] Freire completed training in psychoanalysis with the Sociedade Brasileira de Psicanálise de São Paulo, under the guidance of Henrique Schloman.^[3] In 1956, Freire worked in clinical support at the Juqueri Psychiatric Hospital in Franco da Rocha.^[3]

Somatherapy (or Soma) was created by Freire in the 1970s as a group therapy,^[4] based on the research of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.^[5] With the objective of freeing the individual to be more creative, the exercises in Soma work with the relationship between the body and emotions. The therapy integrates a structural critique, as it "seeks to liberate the individual from the neurosis caused by a repressive society".^[6] Somatherapy is intended to "challenge authoritarian politics and competitve capitalist social relationships at a personal level, by cultivating bodily awareness and producing non-authoritarian social relationships".^[7] Other essential ingredients in Soma are the studies of antipsychiatry related to human communication and the Brazilian martial art / dance Capoeira Angola.^[4] Soma groups last a year and a half, with frequent sessions, including usually one full weekend per month for the entire group, as well as frequent capoeira classes, study sessions, social activities, and two self-organized group trips. These times together allow the participants to build and develop the group dynamic, in line with the principles of anarchism.^[4]

Freire's therapeutic approach grew from his experiences with the Centro de Estudos Macunaíma alongside the theatre scholars Myriam Muniz and Sylvio Zilber and the architecture professor Flávio Império.^[6] Freire's engagement with the 'Living Theater' theatre group and the theoretical work of Wilhelm Reich were also important influences.^[6] Freire also drew from the work of Max Striner, Gregory Bateson, Frederick Perls, and Thomas Hanna.^[7] Most of Freire's original writing has yet to be translated to English.^[7] Most of Freire's original writing concerning somatherapy has yet to be translated to English.^[8]

Freire explained, in a 1983 interview with Jornal Psi, that "I always felt like an anarchist, but an anarchist of spontaneous consciousness devoid of 'pre' ideology", later he "became a Marxist" and "got involved with the Communist Party" which he eventually left and "got involved with Ação Popular" instead.^[9]

Freire had three children including Paulo de Oliveira Freire (born 1957) and Pedro ('Tuco') De Oliveira Freire (14 October 1954 - 20 October 2015).^[9][1] Paulo is a musician, as was Tuco.^[1] Friere was married, however this ended in 1972 - and he described it as a "bourgeois marriage".^[9] In an interview with Diário da Tarde, Friere stated that he raised his children with the "libertarian pedagogy" that "we anarchists have developed".^[9]