Power relations between professionals and users of Primary Health Care: implications for mental health care

Abstract

Qualitative study with the aim of analyzing the implications of power relationships between
professionals and users in the care produced in mental health in the context of Primary Health Care (PHC). A Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU) in the city of Fortaleza was chosen as the setting for this investigation. The collection of information took place from November 2019 to January 2020, and 10 people participated in the study, five professionals and five users. The phenomenon was understood in the light of critical hermeneutics and the following thematic units emerged: ‘the user-professional relationship as an exercise in domination’ and ‘medicalization as a product of the hegemony of biomedical power’. The results demonstrate the uniqueness of the latent power in the asymmetric relationships conceived in the scope of health services, which impact on the limitation of access, on medication, and difficulties in solving the demands. Thus, it is necessary to pay attention to the horizontality of the relationships as a fundamental process in the production of mental health care.