Mental health and visibility: effects of an audiovisual production

Abstract

The asylum thought is still present in society giving a place to the ‘insane’ that historically provides the exclusion and devaluation of their knowledge. It is up to mental health professionals to also work with these discourses to affirm the humanity of people in psychological distress. Therefore, this research sought to investigate whether the audiovisual production device contributes to the health and visibility of mental health users. Participants are users of the CAPS II Capilé (Community Psychosocial Centers) – which is a public service of mental health – and Viver Group who are part of the process of preparing and sharing the documentary ‘Portrayal of brazilian mental health daily’. The qualitative research used the participant observation method and semi-structured interviews, submitted to Content Analysis resulting in the following categories: ‘meeting with the place of madness’, ‘documentary production process’, ‘visibility production’, ‘resignification of self’, ‘ resignification of the place of madness’ and ‘clinic and art’. The documentary, as a clinical device, contributes to the deinstitutionalization of madness and suffering by deconstructing crystallized places for agencying of new subjectivity.