The objective of the Psychiatric Reform is to deconstruct the tutelage relation and the objetivation produced by the psychiatric knowledge and practices regarding madness. One of the pillars of that relationship is the psychiatric diagnosis. This tool produces important life process effects, as well as institutional, amongst individuals that are diagnosed with Mental Disorders. The purpose of this work is to present a research study conducted with clients of the Mental Health Ambulatory Unit in the city of Natal, RN. The objective of the study was to identify the meanings of the psychiatric diagnoses of the clients and the effects they produce on their daily lives. Working with observations and with a semi-structured interview, we identified that the diagnosis concept varies amongst the clients and that the diagnosis alters their lives in ways such as loss of a job, family dependence and disruption of social relations, effects that are sustained by the medical and judicial knowledge. We understand that the tutelage relations with the family and the health services are established when the diagnosis is made and the life style is then oriented by the "existence" of the mental illness/disorder.
psychiatric reform; diagnosis; madness