Psychiatric Power. Exclusion and Segregation in the Brazilian Mental Health System

This text seeks to provide a historical analysis of Brazilian psychiatry. My purpose here is to emphasize the inherent connection between (un)democratic processes and social understandings of the figure of the “mad.” The structuration of the system of psychiatric care indeed would seem to be inseparable from human rights concerns and the need to consider all individuals as worthy of care. Without a doubt, social acceptance of the “mad” is intrinsically related to concerns for democracy, and de-democratization, for its part, begins by targeting “deviant” figures.