This paper reports a theoretical study of the connections between the DSM and the classificatory logic by Simão Bacamarte. The contemporary hegemonic psychopathological discourse of the DSM was taken from the point of view of a psychoanalytic reading, while Bacamarte’s classification composes Machado de Assis’ work “The alienist”. We point out that the space a society allocates to the reverse of reason defines the space of freedom, revealing the forms of the social bond of a collectivity. Thus, freedom is closely related to a political position, a conclusion that allows to approach psychopathology from the same perspective. We find that if madness has been freed from the asylum walls, it remains more than ever trapped within the walls of the discourse of excessive DSM classifications, since that discourse neutralizes what makes the subject of the unconscious speak.
Key words:
Speech; mental disorders; madness; psychopathology
