Eugenizar a alma: A constituição da euphrenia no projeto de higiene mental voltado à infância da Liga Brasileira de Hygiene Mental

Abstract

This article analyzes the establishment of "euphrenia" as a new domain for Brazilian psychiatry in its eugenic and hygienic approach to children's health. An analysis of medical and psychological knowledge regarding children's minds in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s reveals the intense emotional climate in families as the basis for a project in social normalization, still focused on eugenics but also influenced by a psychology of adaptation.