The effective management of the mental disorders within the health services in general - especially at the Basic Health Assistance level - is no doubt one of the requirements for the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients, with or without a long hospitalization story. In this sense, the training of the health professional becomes a priority for the implementation of any public health care network that truly attempts to apply the principles of the psychiatric reform in caring persons with mental disorders. Under this guideline, we have been developing since October 2005, in Itambé (state of Paraná, Brazil), an extension project named Psychologist Training for Practice in Mental Health Care Replacement Services (in the mental hospitals), which we now describe. This project is made up of activities developed with mental patients, their families, health professionals and the community. All the activities have the participation of the students who are properly enrolled in the project. The results achieved thus far allow us to attest the significance of the projects of this nature as contributions to the training of psychologists, and subsequently, to the necessary changes for the consolidation of the psychiatric reform.
Psychologist professional training; Mental disorder; Psychiatric reform; Primary health assistance
