The sustainability and function of outpatient mental health clinics, which have historically been part of the psychiatric hospital system, need to be considered in the context of the current changes driven by the Psychosocial Care Strategy. The objective of this research was to understand and analyze the operation of a mental health outpatient clinic and its link with the network of services of the National Health System. The methodological and theoretical basis used for the institutional analysis was the social-analytical perspective. The performed procedures were: bibliographic and documentary research, analysis of the record service, participant observation of the institutional routine and daily records in the field and conversation circles with the workers and users. The mental health clinic serves 214 users who seek mainly psychiatric and psychological care, special rights, leisure, social life and professional courses. The primary issue related to the service network was identified as the disconnection between mental health services and primary care. For data analysis, we list two points of argument: 1. the demands for services in the outpatient mental health care clinic and 2. disconnection mental health-primary care. The analyses indicated a failure of network care strategies, the need to revise the clinic protocols and the existence of care limitations due to a lack of sector integration policies.
Mental health; Health attention; Health care; Mental health services