MADNESS AND DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION PROCESSES: ASPECTS OF THEORETICAL AND POLITICAL DEBATES IN THE SECOND HALF OF 20th CENTURY

Abstract

The article seeks to focus on specific debates and actions that varied social actors developed
regarding processes of deinstitutionalization of madness during the second half of the
twentieth century. It examines criticisms found in discussions within the European and North-American psychiatric fields about the psychiatric hospital model,and observes the
repercussions of theoretical and political debates in Brazil. It focuses on the process of
deinstitutionalization of madness in Ceará by examining the consequences of both the
psychiatric reform this state experienced, and the anti-insane asylum struggle based on the episode of Damião Ximenes. It also takes into consideration the emergence of the Cearense Forum for Anti-Insane Asylum Struggle.