This paper presents some of the results of the thesis The meanings of healing in mental health, that had as one of its core objectives the investigation of healing’s meaning to outpatients, families and psychiatrists of a mental health hospital. The methodological frame of the research was the Signs, Meanings and Practices Theory, through which we look for to observe how the subjects have built conceptions and expectations based on their experiences with the mental suffering. In this paper we discuss the results from the analysis of psychiatrists’ speeches, where it is possible to notice that the healing conceptions are closely related to the following elements: (a) the pathology; (b) the etiological conceptions of the subject and (c) the expectations on the future of psychiatry.
Healing; Psychiatric; Outpatient service