Violência e poder no discurso psiquiátrico: Da exclusão sistemática às subjetivações normativas*

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the power relations and the exercise of violence in the medical practices by psychiatrists who works in a public Brazilian psychiatric hospital of XX state, Brazil. Enlightened by Foucault's notions of disciplinary power and biopower and Hannah Arendt's contributions on the concept of violence and politics, the objective was to understand how the interviewees posit themselves in relation to psychiatric discourse, and what is the established place for the patients in that discourse. It is verified how the psychiatric discourse was transformed after the beginning of the psychiatric reform, moving from a systematic exclusion of madness to an imperative of social inclusion. It is concluded that the exercise of politics, in Arendt terms, can introduce a third discoursive way to a new improvement of psychiatric reform.