In this article, we discuss the meanings attributed by families and professionals to mental health crisis situations and their relationships with the technologies used in caring for users of psychosocial care centers in Bahia and Sergipe. We were inspired by the theoretical-methodological model of the system of signs, meanings and practices, using qualitative research techniques. We organized the data into two categories: signs and meanings of crises; and care strategies and difficulties. We observed that there was not much difference between professionals' and families' conceptions about crises, and that negative meanings supplanted positive meanings, thus evoking the concepts of subjection to disease, incapacity for rational social interaction and dangerousness of the patient. Two issues are important in managing crises: their unpredictability and their relationship to the individual's history. To overcome the management difficulties, investment in soft and soft-hard technologies based on durable bonds and intensification of care is necessary.
Crisis; Biomedical Technology; Mental health; Psychosocial care center; System of signs, meanings and practices