The fetish of crisis: challenges for psychosocial care

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical reflection based on a narrative review of the literature. A critical analysis of the subject was carried out from the perspective of Brazil's psychiatric reform, intertwined with the authors' experiences. It highlights the psychic crisis as a significant challenge in implementing mental health care centered on psychosocial attention. The discussion identifies this challenge as stemming from the coexistence of two conflicting paradigms within mental health services: the psychiatric paradigm and the psychosocial paradigm. This dichotomy leads to varying approaches to care delivery and different interpretations of the crisis itself, which, in turn, perpetuate stigma and prejudice, while also generating fear and distress among professionals. The article concludes that this issue arises from psychiatry's appropriation of the crisis category, which has become entrenched within its foundations, elevating it to the level of a fetish.