Abstract

AZENHA, Sónia Soraia Dias. O internamento compulsivo e a representação da doença mental: percurso histórico. Arq Med [online]. 2014, vol.28, n.2, pp.54-60. ISSN 2183-2447.

This article aims to alert the reader to the profound changes in approaches to mental illness and its treatment, including hospitalization, at different times of history according with the correspondent social, cultural and scientific contexts. It presents elements that are intended to illustrate important periods of history, namely the Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Contemporary Age. It seeks to provide data about the thought of the time, of historical facts or authors who have studied mental illness, with particular emphasis on the question of the role of confinement as a mean of containing and treating the disease and conditions associated with it, according to historical period. Finally, we present a brief reflection on the progress and improvement of care in the field of mental health, particularly to what relates to the hospital admission. It also addresses the difficulties associated with the change in the services provided to patients and their families, according with current needs and the development of medical care.

Keywords : hospital admission; mental disease; history.

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