Under the Brazilian psychiatric reform, assistance to psychic crisis represents a challenge for health policy, especially for emergency services. This article aims to discuss the care provided to psychiatric crises by health professionals of the Mobile Emergency Service (Samu). The research is the result of a master's thesis in Nursing, held in Natal, and used the semi-structured interviews and direct observation as a means of gathering information. Data were submitted to thematic analysis technique applied in qualitative studies. With this framework, there were four categories of analysis: the military police and psychiatric events; service features provided by Samu in psychiatric emergency; need for vocational training; and responsibility of Samu with psychiatric emergencies. The discussion shows that elements associated with the asylum practice, as the use of coercive force, mainly performed with the help of military police, still support the ideas and care of the professionals interviewed. However, the care provided in these cases need to maintain social ties, environmental and emotional subjects, avoiding violent measures of repressive or exclusionary nature. Therefore, the research raised reflection on issues relevant to the process of implementation of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform within the emergency pre-hospital care.
mental health; emergencies; crisis intervention