Nise da Silveira forerunner of Brazilian psychiatric reform

Abstract

This paper aims to present the bases of the method of the Brazilian psychiatrist Nise da Silveira, based on her orientation towards the reading of images. From an inter and transdisciplinary perspective, Nise da Silveira reformulated the psychiatry molds and the therapeutic practices in Brazil, being a precursor of the psychiatric reform. In addition, she was an important diffuser of Jungian theory and of the production of a politically engaged clinic. The presentation is based on Nise da Silveira's personal collection, kept at the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente, in Rio de Janeiro, as well as on the " Pequeno Manual de Leitura de Imagens: O Benedito" that organizes her intellectual path in the studies of schizophrenic art. This "manual", prepared by Nise so that others could study and learn from her, proves to be a true treatise of transdisciplinarity. In it, it is possible to see how the construction of knowledge for Nise da Silveira occurs through the construction of a knowledge that crosses all knowledges, since the phenomenon studied is marked by complexity, the images of the unconscious, and the creative forces of the psyche.