In the middle of the road there was a stone: The history of violence and social suffering among young adults with trajectories of psychiatric hospitalization

Abstract

This article presents the life stories of three young adults with a long history of psychiatric hospitalization who became residents of a psychiatric hospital in Sorocaba (SP), in a region known as a center for the mentally ill. This study analyzes mental health policies and their effects on the lives of these individuals based on discussions about social suffering. Using the participant objectivation technique, these individuals were followed for two years after dehospitalization. The results show that health policy in Sorocaba has been advanced through totalizing and coercive schemes with institutionalization and medicalization comprising the “solution” to some social problems.