Entre a "loucura” e o direito: Serviço Social na Saúde Mental do Amazonas

Abstract

The field of mental health has historically been challenging, as it has been marked by a lack of investment and widespread social prejudice. It was within this adverse context that social workers developed their professional practice. This dissertation presents the initial chapters of the history of the professional work carried out by social workers in the field of mental health at the only hospital dedicated to the care of individuals with mental disorders in the state — Hospital Colônia Eduardo Ribeiro/Centro Psiquiátrico Eduardo Ribeiro (the designation adopted in 1982). This research delves into the memories of the interviewees, employing tools such as oral history to access relevant information and to understand the trajectory of social workers in the mental health sector in the state of Amazonas, thereby shedding light on the paths they followed between 1970 and 2000. The primary objective of this research was to uncover the history of the professional work of social workers in the field of mental health in the state of Amazonas. Its specific objectives were: to contextualize the genesis and development of mental health policy in Amazonas, with particular emphasis on the role of social workers; to document the professional trajectories of social workers within the socio-occupational spaces of mental health policy in Amazonas; and to investigate the struggles and achievements of social workers amid the reconfigurations of mental health care in the state. The research adopted historical-dialectical materialism as its methodological framework, with a theoretical-methodological approach emphasizing qualitative aspects. For this study, documentary, bibliographic, and oral sources were collected, covering the period from 1970 to 2000. In Amazonas, there is a notable scarcity of documents on the subject, which made the recollections of the interviewed social workers indispensable, guiding the research along a previously unexplored path within the field of Social Work. In addition to these oral sources, newspaper articles and the Official State Gazette of Amazonas (DOM-AM) were essential for reconstructing this history. During both the documentary and field research, it was not possible to precisely confirm the date of the insertion of social workers into the institution prior to the 1970s, as no evidence of their presence was found. Among the many challenges identified, prejudices and the acceptance of families were found to have consistently accompanied the professional practice of social workers. The research revealed the participation of social workers in the implementation of psychiatric reform in Amazonas. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of future generations of social workers regarding the professional work carried out in the field of mental health in the state of Amazonas.