This paper is fruit of an investigation called " The dynamics of mental care: signs, meanings and practices of professionals working in the Family Health Program (FHP) and in the Psychosocial Care Centers (PCCs)" . The main objective of this study was to understand how health professionals working in these two services interpret mental suffering and how they plan and develop their interventions for reducing it. To this purpose, we selected qualitative fieldwork methods that included interviews with the professionals and observation of the practices they develop in the context of the mentioned services. In this work, we present the data produced with regard to the FHP, where we also established focal groups with professionals. The data obtained were later analyzed on the basis of previously defined categories. As a result, we have been able to pin down a number of difficulties the professionals were facing, ranging from the identification of mental suffering to the challenge of dealing with specific situations and to the questions involved with the referral to specialized services. On the other hand, the degree of sensibility to social suffering demonstrated by these professionals and their ability to articulate it with psychological suffering deserve to be emphasized.
Family Health Program; Psychosocial Care Center; Mental health; Meanings; Practices