We conducted thesis research in Social History, under the aspect of Oral History in order to assess the mental health policy of the city of Quixadá, Brazil, from 1993 to 2012. Testimonials from four directly responsible personnel were selected for the construction of politics in their first term: the mayor, the service supervisor, a nursing assistant and a physician. The interviews were analyzed using as a theoretical ethics of radical otherness. Consensually, the testimonies pointed to the understanding that, in addition to the patient and his family need care, interventions were necessary in order to present to the city madness as a way to reduce prejudice. It is suggested, based on the reports of this good practice, the creation of a new criterion for the evaluation of mental health services, namely, its effectiveness in generating, in society, new ways of dealing with difference and with each other.
Psycho-social Care; Quixadá city; ethics; radical alterity; health assessment