Mental health care in primary health care during the psychiatric pre-reform period

Abstract

Introduction: to analyze the mental health care in primary health care in a Minas
Gerais municipality, in the 1980s. Method: a qualitative study, from the perspective
of the history of the present time. Sources: Written and oral documents obtained
by an interview with six professionals from a basic health unit (BHU). We used the
inductive method that starts from the internal and external critical posture of the
sources, establishing the relationships with the historical-social context in which
they were inserted. Results: the data resulted in two categories: revealing the asylum
reality in Juiz de Fora through the narrative of the professionals of the basic health
unit and the professionals' reports about difficulties in understanding the reform
proposal and consequences in the organization of services and care. Discussion: in
the pre-psychiatric retirement period, the de-hospitalization process determined the
demand for mental health care at the BHU, which was not properly received due to
the unpreparedness of the health team. The asylum logic guided the care and did
not sufficiently contemplate the care of people with mental disorders, being limited
to the reproduction of medical prescriptions and referrals to specialized services.
Conclusion: the team faced, as far as possible, the difficulties found, and the BHU
studied was a pioneer in out-of-hospital mental health care, which would later be
qualified by the Municipal Secretariat of Mental Health of Juiz de Fora.