"A cidade que cuida descuida da saúde mental": o desmonte da Rede de Atenção Psicossocial no município de João Pessoa-PB

Abstract

This study analyzes the process of dismantling the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS) in the municipality of João Pessoa-PB, from March 2021 to June 2025, using a qualitative methodology. Documentary analysis was carried out based on complaints, public reports, meeting records, journalistic materials, and official documents produced by social movements and public institutions. Based on the evidence, the study assumes that administrative inertia, management changes, and insufficient investment intensified the precariousness of services, resulted in the dismantling of RAPS, and led to violations of the rights of users, professionals, and families, as well as dismissals, silencing, and authoritarian practices within the network. In this context, the role of the Antimanicomial Collective in Defense of RAPS of João Pessoa-PB stands out. As a form of resistance to the progressive weakening of mental health care, this collective promoted complaints and coordinated different entities in defense of humanized and community-based care. It concludes that ensuring rights within the scope of psychosocial care depends on permanent social control, democratic participation, and constant dialogue between civil society and public authorities, highlighting the importance of collective struggle to confront setbacks and strengthen public policies guided by the principles of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, the Anti-Asylum Movement, and Human Rights.