POLITICS FORGETTING AND NOSTALGIA FOR ASYLUMS: SILENCE, HIDDENNESS AND MORTIFICATIONS IN MENTAL HEALTH IN CAMPOS DOS GOYTACAZES

Abstract

Historically, Campos dos Goytacazes/RJ has organized its mental health care policies through the coexistence of the asylum-manicomial logic with the psychosocial logic in a compositional manner, rather than aiming for deinstitutionalization. This approach has required reformulations, especially following the recent closure of the last asylum in the municipality. In this context, the present research aims to understand how the operation of policies of forgetting regarding the sociopolitical function of the asylum, and its effects on care practices, contributes to the persistence of asylum desires within the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS) in this region of Rio de Janeiro. The study adopts the documentary analysis of primary sources addressing the closure of the João Viana Psychiatric Hospital as a methodological strategy to investigate the relationship between memory and power, expressed through the silencing and concealment of asylum-related violence in these spaces. As a result, it is possible to observe the emergence of a certain “asylum nostalgia” – as a product of policies of forgetting – within the RAPS, which is linked to the precarization of mental health public policies, as well as unresolved political-institutional dilemmas. Thus, the discussion on the human right to memory in the field of mental health becomes urgent.