Nise da Silveira (1905–1999), Brazilian psychiatrist and pioneer of rehabilitation psychiatry – extra

Abstract

‘To navigate against the current, these rare qualities are needed: a spirit of adventure, courage, perseverance and passion’ – Nise da Silveira In a time when lobotomies, electroshock and insulin therapies were still the norm in Brazilian psychiatry, Nise da Silveira stood out as a singular voice advocating for a kinder and more relational approach to the treatment of people with mental health conditions. Despite working in an arena dominated by men, she fought passionately against the status quo and was instrumental in establishing occupational therapies as a valid treatment in schizophrenia and other chronic psychiatric conditions in Brazil, changing the way in which rehabilitation was viewed and practised in her native land. The museum has remained in operation to this day and now holds over 350 000 works by patients from the 1940s to today. da Silveira went on to establish the Casa das Palmeiras in 1956, a clinic devoted to the rehabilitation of former patients of psychiatric hospitals which eschewed the institutionalisation and restriction of liberty of its attendees.