This article aims to identify the signs of crisis present in the discourses of Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPSij) workers and managers, in the light of the current paradigms in the field, indicating possible impasses and advances in psychosocial care for children and adolescents. We present the results of three exploratory and qualitative studies, which address the theme of the crisis in the CAPSij in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We used as data collection instruments: a questionnaire, semi-structured interview scripts, and a focus group. We used the Thematic Content Analysis for data analysis, identifying two main categories: psychiatric crisis and psychosocial crisis. The notion of psychiatric crisis refers to the presence of acute symptoms and discusses how insufficient this conception is to respond to the complexity of crisis situations. The notion of a psychosocial crisis inscribes suffering as a singular and social experience revealing the importance of micro (family, school, other institutions, and community) and macro-social (social, historical, cultural, political, and economic) contexts in understanding the crisis. It is understood that the presence of both notions evidences the coexistence of psychiatric and psychosocial paradigms, revealing the process of paradigmatic transition in which these services are inserted. Finally, it is reiterated that the production of psychic suffering in children and adolescents is complex and that, to the same extent, their resources and responses should also be complex, thus protecting them from processes that produce more suffering such as institutionalization, pathologization, medicalization, and stigmatization.
Keywords:
Mental Health; Community Mental Health Services; Crisis Intervention; Child; Adolescent