Stigmas on the way: itineraries for black people's access to mental health care
Racism, racism and health, social determinants of health, stigma, therapeutic itineraries, mental health.
The analysis of life stories was the path developed for the design of therapeutic itineraries of black people, users of Psychosocial Care Centers in the city of Eunápolis-Extremo Sul da Bahia. Through the narratives, it was possible to evidence the existence of social determinations arising from harsh life contexts that promote an experience in conditions of multiple sufferings, due to the fragility in the composition of relational ties, precarious material conditions and the constant restriction of rights, in addition, it was observed the emergence of barriers to access, of geographic and economic origin and the structure of the health system itself. Therapeutic itineraries are developed from the understanding of mental suffering, which generally occurs after the emergence of extreme situations of damage to health or difficulties in social interaction. From then on, family care and counseling emerge as the first support, followed by the reception directly at the CAPS, factors such as intensity of care, occurrence of relapses and crises and the CAPS work process order the movement of people in this service. The itineraries are still marked by the hospital as a place to contain the crisis, with emphasis on the strength of therapeutic communities in the admission of users suffering from the use of alcohol and drugs. This study highlighted the fragility in the composition of the Psychosocial Care Network in this municipality, marked by little communication between services and restriction of access for people with psychological distress, almost always restricted to CAPS, SAMU and hospitals. For users, understanding about racism only becomes evident when there is a personal and direct speech related to skin color, and for most respondents, there was no perception of a relationship between the experience of racism and the occurrence of mental suffering. The analysis of documents showed that health professionals did not mention the issue of racism in the medical records, which shows a distance from the discussion about racism in the practice of psychosocial clinic, even though CAPS is an equipment with an absolute majority of black users.