[Autonomy and citizenship in psychosocial rehabilitation: a reflection]

This article approaches autonomy and citizenship in the psychosocial rehabilitation process. The bibliographical review approaches concepts such as de-institutionalization and rehabilitation used by authors following the tradition of Basaglia, as well as American and British authors discussing the question rehabilitation/work/mental health. The results show that while the first are adopting a more flexible style, in which production of life is more important that productive life, American and British authors present models whose objective is the normalization of psychiatric patients by confronting them with the labor market. Both models bring along determinant variables--stigma, expectations, intolerance--denouncing forms of social exclusion from work for marginalized segments of the population. It is concluded that one of the biggest obstacles for rehabilitation is the inclusion in the formal labor market due to its competitiveness and to the need for a new perspective of the relation of mental health and society.