Territórios da loucura

Abstract

Madness raises both fear and fascination, like a mirror inside out that reveals man in his most unusual form. This research has as its field of analysis, territories in which it is possible to meet and associate with madness and has as its purpose the analysis of changes occurred there, during the last years. It is divided into three parts which correspond to three territories: the street, the psychiatrist hospital and the psychosocial centre of attention, all situated in the city of Uberaba, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais. Based on the social context, on literature and the institutional analysis, an experimental text or cartography was begun. The analysis had as their starting point the observations, dialogues, interviews and clinical experiences which offered a better understanding of the main transformations occurred in each territory; these changes go through various spheres, whether they be political, economic, cultural, social and ethic. Some of them generated barriers that interfere until today in the social representation, in the forms of treatment, in the functioning and organization of these territories, in the manners of living together and in the practices of those that decide to treat madness. The dissertation ends with and ethical query concerning the role of the professional that works today in mental health, revealing the permanent challenges in the construction of a territory and a clinical practice as horizontal as possible