Muito além da cor da pele: psicologia, saúde mental e relações étnico-raciais em serviços públicos de saúde do município de Suzano, São Paulo 

Abstract

The different ways in the making of Brazilian Psychology science and its profession have been inserted in several fields of public policies in recent decades, among them are the Unified Health System (SUS). In spite of being aligned with the hegemonic assertion in normalization/adaptation of people to the socially expected standards (Dimenstein 2000), research and professional practices are constantly reviewing new political, economic, social and cultural contexts over the country (Costa-Rosa, Yasui, & Luzio, 2003). Psychology is a fertile field of productions that can compact or break with the status quo tradition (Macedo & Dimenstein, 2013; Pitta, 1996). Thus, this descriptive and exploratory qualitative study investigates how professionals that are inserted on public services in the area of mental health in the city of Suzano, SP deal with the theme of ethnic-racial relations in their daily work. Even though the research field is structured in Brazil on ethnic-racial relations in scientific psychology (Santos, Schucman and Martins, 2012), this research was carried out seeking to elucidate contingencies that lead to the absence of the subject in the professional performance in public mental health services. Using semidirected interviews treated using the technique of content analysis (Franco, 2012), the results were derived in four categories: 01) Trajectory and Professional Identity: Conceptions; 02) Formation in the theme of ethnic-racial relations and difficulties in the definition of ethnicracial relations; 03) Conceptions about ethnic-racial relations, prejudice and racism; 04) Daily scenes: prejudice and discrimination in mental health work and intervention in the theme. In sum, the results show the relevance of the paradigmatic revision of Psychology among the challenges for action in Latin America and the lack of approach on ethnic-racial relations in the graduation so that it could become a marker in the process of analysis of inequalities. Evidence of ethno-racial prejudice was also presented to health professionals whose skin color is black. There were no narratives of interventions performed at the institutional level in the health services in Suzano, SP to reduce the practices of prejudice and discrimination, just as there were no cases that showed the use of theoretical and methodological scientific subsidies of Psychology as a strategy to prevent practices of ethnic-racial exclusion.