Abstract
Compulsory psychiatric hospitalizations (CPH) have been widely discussed, highlighting tensions between their expressive increase and what the psychiatric reform advocates. This article aims to understand the meanings that are produced with mental health teams about CPH and its daily challenges. For this matter, we performed six focus groups with professionals from a psychiatric hospital. The meetings were audiotaped and the transcripts were qualitatively analyzed, highlighting the meanings constructed about CPH and its daily challenges. Our analysis shows that, although the professionals use the same therapeutic resources, the CPH differs in daily life by the way in which admission is made, which implies a low adherence and prolongation of hospitalization due to the judiciary system’s interference. We conclude that the use of CPH to resolve social issues persists and that the dialogue between the justice and health is fundamental in order to recover the ethical and human principles that guide the psychiatric reform.
Keywords:
Compulsory hospitalization of the mentally ill; Health personnel; Mental health; Psychiatric reform