Power relations in psychological practices in the field of mental health from the perspective of discursive social psychology

Abstract

This study aimed to contextualize the power relations in psychological care practices in mental health. The perspective of social psychology and discursive practices sought to discuss Positivism and Cartesian Dualism as paradigms of thought of modern science that influenced the construction of psychology as a science and practice based on scien-tific neutrality and the dichotomies. In Michel Foucault approached the medical knowled-ge as a disciplinary tool of power result of psychiatry that was transferred to psychology through individualized clinical care in mental health care services. Finally, the text makes a discussion on the role of social psychology as an interdisciplinary theory in action in the field of mental health, which seeks to break with old practices and paradigms of traditio-nal psychology.