Denaturalizing mental health in primary care:

the perception of Cuban and Brazilian doctors

Abstract

This research sought to understand the perspectives of Cuban physicians included in the Mais Médicos Program and of Brazilian physicians linked to the Family Health Strategy-ESF teams about mental health in primary care in a municipality in the southeast of Paraná. The qualitative approach was used, with reference to the institutional analysis, and interviews were conducted with five physicians (three Cubans and two Brazilians). We work with the notion of mirror inverted, according to which, contrary to the expectation that the practices of Cubans and Brazilians are reflex of each other, an effect of differentiation between them occurs, producing effects of denaturation. In this way, different ways of understanding about mental health, the forms of treatment, and the role attributed to the use of medicines are revealed, discussing aspects that cross this scenario. It is hoped to contribute to the construction of an articulated action to the psychosocial dimension of attention.