This paper summarizes a dissertation which was part of the requirement for the attainment of the degree of Master in Public Health at the Medical School of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). In this investigation, the impasses in the psychiatric reform in Brazil were analysed. Based on the evidences of progress both in the offer of services and in the pertaining legislation as well as on the difficulties faced in the effort to surmount the mental hospital, five hypotheses were built to study the relationship between the two modes of treatment: the alternative service and the psychiatric hospital. This paper deals with the fifth hypothesis, which posits a peaceful coexistence of the two services in the future. The investigation demonstrated that this condition has not happened until now, and the solution for the stalemates aforementioned involves the enhancement of the reform movement, political decisions and the definitions shaped by patients and their families.
Psychiatric reform; Struggle; Coexistence; Policy