Speech Therapy and Mental Health:

paths and impasses

Abstract

Introduction: The Unified Health System was consolidated from the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988. In the 70s and 80s, the speech therapist began to be inserted in public services, a movement that gained strength after the consolidation of the SUS. The Speech-Language Pathologist is inserted in the field of Mental Health in the 1990s, when his presence in the multidisciplinary teams of specialized outpatient clinics was established and in 2002 in the composition of the Children’s Psychosocial Care Center team. Thus, the role of the speech therapist in the field of Mental Health is still “new” and less discussed in the scope of Speech Therapy. Objective: reflect on the place of the speech therapist in Mental Health in the field of Collective Health. From the question: what are the paths and impasses to solidify the place of the speech therapist in the Specialized Psychosocial Care services? Method: non-systematic bibliographic review. The selection of articles was performed through automatic search in the following databases: SCIELO, LILACS and PUBMED. Discussion: when inserted in a service of the Unified Health System in the Psychosocial Care Network, speech therapists are faced with the precepts of the Psychiatric Reform, which point to another way of practicing, which makes a change in the speech therapist’s practice necessary. Conclusion: To solidify the role of the speech therapist in the field of Mental Health, it is necessary to invert the logic of care and establish the rationale of the Psychosocial Care clinic and the precepts of the Psychiatric Reform. The specificity of the speech therapist in this field is through a consistent theorization about language/communication that authorizes him to assume a position in relation to subjects in psychological distress.