[De-institutionalization of mental health and care practices in the context of home-based care]

In Brazil, the home-based care services (HCS) are considered strategic and essential in the de-institutionalization process of patients who passed years in psychiatric hospitals and lost their family and social links. However, this service faces a series of problems and challenges in the wider context of health care. This article seeks to analyze some of these problems and challenges based on the experience of the home-based care service in Natal RN and on the literature in this field. Proposed on the basis of the idea that the encounters between insanity and city are potent destructors of the ' asylum logic' , these home-based care services put in question the current healthcare model, claiming to destruct the rigid and hegemonic forms of residence and care. The aim of this article is to discuss this ' asylum logic' that surpasses the limits of the concrete insane asylum penetrating some daily practices of the substitute services, taking advantage of the weak articulation between the mental health services. The lack of a strong connection between the home-based care service and the psychosocial care center allows this logic to operate through day-by-day bio-political devices. Thus, we discuss the risks of this logic taking over and indicate some possibilities of avoiding this, defending a care model allowing for potent meetings with the city and for the construction of ' affectionate networks' producing life and liberty.