From the house to the sidewalk: tales of a therapeutical residence

Abstract

This research approaches aspects of the everyday life in a therapeutical residence in Vitória, Espirito Santo state, Brazil. The residence is part of a social policy known for sheltering people who have been subject to a long permanence in a psychiatric hospital located in a nearby municipality. After years of isolation, chronicle abuse and permanent seclusion, the residents and their partners create common paths towards freedom and other possibilities of experience inside the house and in the city, opening themselves to unknown social exchanges and also to the many possible resistences against biopolitical investments over life. The experiences related to the research were registered in field notebooks, which inspired the production of small narratives that reinforce the struggles related to the psychiatric reform, aiming to contribute to it`s development. The results show the importance of care in mental health, which must be made considering ethical, estethical and political dimensions, reinforcing freedom, encounters and multiple forms of sociability.

Keywords:
mental health; everyday life; psychiatry reform