The psychiatric hospital worker in Wonderland

Abstract

Objective: To propose a reflection on the labor practice in a psychiatric hospital, emphasizing Brazil. Method: A theoretical-reflexive study with an analogy between work in a psychiatric hospital and the literary work “Alice in Wonderland.” Results: The complex movement of the psychiatric hospital’s history induces a discordant work process and demands from the worker a personified performance of a world of “wonders.” Final considerations: This manuscript contributed to the equalization of knowledge about the work in the psychiatric hospital, aiming to minimize the conceptual distortions identified and expose the worker’s real situation in these institutions.