Abstract
In the second half of the twentieth century, the notion of risk acquires centrality in biomedical research and in health practices. In the mental health field, we identify a shift from preventive discourses on madness, focused on the dangerous individual, to the consideration of risk factors that can, in a probabilistic manner, represent risk of developing mental disorders. In this article, grounded on the historical and sociological considerations of Robert Castel and Nikolas Rose, we analyze the path of the notion of risk as dangerousness to the risk as possibility to develop mental disorders. In this course, we highlight: the trend of expanding the concept application; challenges and critics to its use; and possible subjective consequences from changes in the boundaries of what we designate as pathological.
Keywords:
risk; prevention; mental health; madness; subjectivity