A contribution to the critique of the political economy of Brazilian psychiatric counter-reforms

Authors

  • Pedro Henrique Antunes da Costa Universidade de Brasília
  • Kíssila Teixeira Mendes Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18315/argumentum.v12i2.28943

Abstract

This article outlines a critique of the political economy of current Brazilian Psychiatric Counter-reform. It relies on studies on the political economy of Psychiatric Reform, budgetary data, and the implementation of mental healthcare policies from 2001 to 2019. Psychiatric Counter-reform is a process of budgetary downsizing, renewed use of asylums, and commodification, with: the reappearance of psychiatric hospitals in policies, the centrality of Therapeutic Communities in the area of alcohol and other drugs, increases in the funding of such institutions, the reversal of the tendency to close psychiatric beds and reduced investment in extra-hospital actions. This constitutes a break in the continuous development of Psychiatric Reform; an expression of neoliberal dynamics in mental healthcare, which has intensified since 2015, expanding the expropriation and plundering of both the working class and the State by capital.

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Author Biographies

Pedro Henrique Antunes da Costa, Universidade de Brasília

Psicólogo. Doutor em Psicologia. Professor do Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de Brasília. (UnB, Brasília (DF), Brasil).

Kíssila Teixeira Mendes, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Psicóloga. Mestre em Psicologia. Doutoranda em Psicologia na Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. (UFJF, Juiz de Fora, Brasil)

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Published

29-08-2020

How to Cite

Antunes da Costa, P. H., & Mendes, K. T. (2020). A contribution to the critique of the political economy of Brazilian psychiatric counter-reforms. Argumentum, 12(2), 44–59. https://doi.org/10.18315/argumentum.v12i2.28943

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2020): As políticas de saúde mental no Brasil e no plano internacional: tendências e desafios

Section

Thematic Articles

License

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