The article proposes a revision of the approach to madness and the birth of the psychiatric institution taken by Foucault in History of Madness. The hypothesis is that the origins of modern psychiatry revolutionize the approach to madness by proposing it is possible to dialogue with the insane, because the madman is not someone who has lost his reason. It is hoped that this critique of Foucault's book will be a contribution to the process of psychiatric reform currently underway in Brazil.
madness; Michel Foucault; birth of Psychiatry; psychiatric reform