Immigration in Brazilian medical and psychiatric discourse in the postSecond World War period

Abstract

The article analyzes the contributions of psychiatry to the debate on health and immigration in the post-Second World War, when Brazil received war refugees and displaced persons from Eastern Europe. The concern with mental disorders attributed to war traumas made mental health a topic of debate in the specialized press. From the analysis of medical articles published in the journals Arquivos Brasileiros de Higiene Mental and Arquivos Brasileiros de Neuriatria e Psiquiatria and in Revista de Imigração e Colonização, we seek to understand the relevance of immigration as a field in which psychiatrists took action and vied for legitimacy as authorities in the preparation of Brazil’s immigration policies.