Mental health in primary care: Perspectives of professionals of the family health strategy in northeastern brazil

Abstract

The Family Health Strategy (FHS) of the Unified Health System (SUS) is the revised model that governs health care and the work processes adopted in Brazil. This article analyzes the perceptions of FHS professionals regarding mental health and the care provided in a health center in a Basic Care Unit in the Brazilian Northeast. It involved qualitative research aligned with a crit-ical interpretative approach conducted through interviews, straightforward observation and doc-umentary analysis that led to a series of consider-ations organized into two main groups: a) “Men-tal Health” from the perspective of professionals of the FHS; and b) Care in “Mental Health” in the context of practices of primary care. The re-sults of the study reveal conceptions about mental health limited to a view aligned with a project of institutionalization and medicalization. With re-spect to the dimension of care, gaps are revealed in relation to shared experiences in mental health, through the incipient partnership between professionals of the FHS and the Nucleus of Support in Family Health (NSFH). The challenge remains to reconstruct a vision aligned with the precepts of Brazilian psychiatric reform, teamwork and the creation of spaces that enable discussion and agreements in the daily routine of the FHS.