Travessias de memórias e histórias de dor:

a negação do outro em experiências imagéticas manicomiais entre 1960 e 1980

Abstract

The present work addresses the history of madness in the context of the 20th century, specifically between 1960 and 1980, with an analysis focused on the History of Sensibility. The study primarily investigates the Colônia Hospital located in Barbacena, Minas Gerais, and the therapies used on the individuals interned there. Aspects related to pain and perspectives of affliction will be considered, based on the concept of madness and the context of psychiatric hospitals in Brazil. We work from the conception of memory to understand sensibilities regarding the pain of others, based on the book The Brazilian Holocaust by Daniela Arbex, the documentary The Brazilian Holocaust, produced by Netflix and directed by Armando Mendz and Daniela Arbex, and the film Nise: The Heart of Madness (2015), directed by Roberto Berliner. The research is situated within the field of the history of health and disease as a specific field of analysis, with an emphasis on the Brazilian psychiatric demand, and theoretical support from authors such as Arbex (2019), Foucault (1977), Halbwachs (2004), Spivak (1988), Gonçalves (2013), Ramminger (2002), and Savassi (1991), among others. The adopted methodology includes a literature review that examines research and debates from different authors on the topic, as well as document analysis, which organizes information for consultation. Content analysis was also conducted, aiming to understand the historical aspects present in the documents. In light of this, it was possible to understand the aspects related to memory and how it can be produced or manipulated by the state. The research revealed that the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship used psychiatric hospitals to intern political prisoners as mentally ill individuals in order to silence them. Furthermore, it was possible to identify the lack of medical ethics during the 20th century, which contributed to the internment of people without psychological problems, collaborating with the state system at the time. At Colônia Hospital, the lack of ethics standards was enormous that many professionals without healthcare training were hired and administered medication to the patients without proper qualifications.