Abstract
From the contributions of the study of Zanello and Bukowitz (2011) on the participation of gender values and ideals present in psychological suffering of patients in crisis in a psychiatric hospital, the present study aimed to investigate the aspects of this participation in users of a Psychosocial Care Center in Brasilia. From the content analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews the results suggest that the experience of mental illness is gendered and puts in check in distinct ways men and women under mental health treatment: the women’s speech is particularly marked by suffering for not being able to parent and take care of household chores, as well as a place of silencing; in the men’s speech the suffering for not being able to work and provide for the family prevailed, in addition to the importance and difficulty in maintaining an hegemonic male sexuality of “womanizer”.
mental health; gender; psychic suffering; madness; CAPS