Between Public Policies, Professional Practices, and Local Knowledge: The Suffering and Medicalization of Women Living in the Urban Peripheries of São Paulo

• Grant number: 25/10835-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health
• Principal Investigator: Laura Helena Silveira Guerra de Andrade
• Grantee: Lenora de Homonnay Bruhn
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psiquiatria Doutor Antonio Carlos Pacheco e Silva (IPq). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Several studies point to a high prevalence of common mental disorders among women living in urban peripheries. In contrast to approaches that seek explanations in neurobiological substrates, socio-anthropological perspectives interpret this data in light of historical and structural factors. From this viewpoint, gender roles shape forms of psychological suffering, and the labor of care emerges as a key dimension in this debate. In Brazil, the Psychiatric Reform transformed mental health care by replacing the hospital-centered logic with a community-based model. Despite advances in deinstitutionalization, some argue that the post-Reform period also brought challenges, such as the spread of psychiatry and the medical model into the social sphere-producing what some have called the medicalization of life. Women living in peripheral neighborhoods are the main users of benzodiazepines and antidepressants distributed through Primary Health Care (APS), highlighting their vulnerability in this context. This project aims to investigate the narratives of informal women caregivers regarding their direct or indirect experiences with psychiatric diagnosis and treatment processes in two APS units in Sapopemba-the Promorar Basic Health Unit (UBS) and the Psychosocial Care Center (CAPS) III. To this end, we will use qualitative methods, combining data collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews with health professionals, in-depth interviews with users, and document analysis. The project seeks to contribute to understanding the relationships between gender, mental health, and medicalization in urban peripheries, with a focus on the lived experiences of informal women caregivers within the context of mental health policies in Primary Health Care. (AU)