Use of the method oral history in qualitative research: contributions for the mental helth care thematic abstract

Abstract

The qualitative research in mental health have been prioritizing investigations over the perceived care within a conjecture of social, political, cultural, ideological and behavioral changes that have been marking the mental health field in the past years. The article aims to discuss the Oral History methodology since its conception until the present days and its possible contributions to the qualitative research in mental health within this new context. The history of psychiatry assistance has always been permeated by experiences of exclusion and stigmatization, and the usage of this methodology allows ones to give voice to those who for years were silenced, as well as narrates the history of the transformations of the care offered in mental health in the perspective of the new protagonists of attention.