A psique ao encontro da matéria: corpo e pessoa no projeto médico-científico de Nise da Silveira

Abstract

In the early 1900s, Brazilian psychiatry was marked by the use of controversial treatments, like electroconvulsive therapy, psychosurgery, and insulin coma therapy. In 1946, the Brazilian physician Nise da Silveira took the front line in criticizing these treatments by setting up a creative activities studio in the National Psychiatric Center (Centro Psiquiátrico Nacional), in Rio de Janeiro. The article examines the theoretical basis for Silveira’s medical-scientific project, drawing on documental sources and fieldwork with the study group at the Museum of Images from the Unconscious (Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente), maintained by her disciples. It is argued that her thinking constituted a rejection of the assumptions of physicalism and mechanism and was closer to the ontology of vitalism and romanticism.