The institution of Mental Health is analyzed as a device for producing subjectivity. Though it deals with a unique production sector, the application of the analytical frame of reference of Social Formations and the market, as espoused by Marx, may bring to light some extremely useful aspects in the analysis of the composition and productive effects of such practices in the field of mental health, within our context, at this present moment in time. Two production modes stand out in clear contradiction: their arguments are consistent with either that of the capitalist mode of production or with the cooperative mode of production that preceded it; the definition of health will vary radically according to the case. It may be concluded that, within both the psychic and mental spheres, health production is inseparable from the production of subjectivity, being either syntonic or dystonic, according to the mode of production that provides the foundations for its fulfillment. With these elements, a new definition for psychic health is being proposed here as a basis for actions of Psychosocial Care.
Social support; Psychotherapy; Health care reform