Expressive workshops in mental health

Abstract

Studies development by the World Health Organization on schizophrenia and other psychoses have demonstrated, since the 1970s, that different social contexts represent important variables in the course and prognosis of the disorder. If the evolution of each psychopathological disorder is strongly impacted by socio-environmental variables, in addition to specific medical care interventions for psychosis must include management strategies that impact the complex constellation of variables related to micro social contexts. In order to develop strategies that help the psychosocial reintegration of these individuals and their perception about themselves, we developed expressive workshops in Psychosocial Care Centres in a large city in the interior of the state of São Paulo, as part of internship and university extension projects. Based on psychosocial and psychoanalytic references, and on the works of Augusto Boal and Nise da Silveira, expressive workshops on scenic improvisation and artistic expression aimed to provide to the users, especially those who express themselves verbally in a restricted way, materials and space to express psychic contents in a way to organize them according to their own personal elaboration rhythm. Offered to anyone who wanted to participate, 12 workshops were held per semester, with a weekly participation of 8 to 12 users in the improvisation workshops and 4 to 8 users in the artistic expression workshops. The constant frequency and active participation of users in the workshops indicate they are able to represent a valid instrument as an aid to other treatments offered to this population, as it promotes the expressiveness of psychic contents that remain outside the field of language, in addition to encouraging communication, the autonomy and social reintegration of the users.