Health care practice in psychosocial institutions: effects of the capitalist mode of production

Abstract

The mode of production of material goods is correlated to the mode of production of health and indicates the possible forms of subjectivation in a society, thus, the mode of production is related to the ways in which the social and psychic impasses materialize. Conflicts of the class struggle produce contradictions, so it is crucial to note that the symptoms that trigger the crises come to enounce an objection to the social context in which they emerged. Based on institutional analysis, we find that mental health institutions in the context of the capitalist mode of production have served to manage these crises in order to dissuade them. It is observed that despite the advances of Brazilian psychiatric reform, psychosocial establishments still serve social adaptation, producing alienated subjectivities and reproducing historical forms of domination-subordination, such as psychiatric hospitalization and medicalization of life and suffering.