A study about of madness and social control: Analysis of the medical records of the Pinel Sanatorium of Pirituba (1929-1934)

Abstract

Debates regarding mental health have become prominent in the late nineteenth century with the emergence of psychiatry as a medical specialty and remained on the agenda throughout the twentieth century. A context of intense urban transformations, in which issues related to modernization and progress were placed, deepening the search for a sanitized city ruled by order.  It is considering such issues that this research is developed, having as its primary source the medical records of Sanatório Pinel de Pirituba, founded in 1929, in the city of São Paulo. It intends to identify the profile of internal considered mentally ill, during the first five years of operation of the institution, 1929-1934, and the reasons that have designated this portion of the population to isolation.