The Loucura Suburbana block occupied, at the end of today’s afternoon (16), the streets of Engenho de Dentro, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. Created in 2001, it is a pioneer in bringing together users, family members and employees of the mental health network, as well as neighborhood residents. The Carnival parade is part of a broader project to fight against the traditional model of hospitalization in asylums. Instead of forced hospitalizations, a humanized treatment that is more integrated with society. The Loucura concentration always starts at the Nise da Silveira Municipal Institute, which was once the largest and oldest hospice in the country. In October 2021, hospitalizations of psychiatric patients at the institution were officially terminated. The former inmates were relocated to therapeutic residences in the city and, according to the city of Rio, are monitored by multidisciplinary teams from the Psychosocial Care Centers (Caps). This was, therefore, the first parade of the block after the institute was transformed into a park and now offers cultural, artistic and sports activities. It also houses a museum with the legacy of psychiatrist Nise da Silveira and a collection on psychiatry in Brazil. All these changes made today’s revelry special. “The fact that today we managed to no longer be a hospice is the result of a fight in which Loucura Suburbana participated. So, this is a celebration that it is possible to privilege and support art and culture when we talk about mental health”, said Ariadne de Moura Mendes, psychologist at Instituto Nise da Silveira and founder of the block. “It is a parade with a cause. It’s not just a block for playing Carnival. It has a social aspect of resistance. It is the celebration of a long work of the anti-asylum struggle”. The Carnavalesco Loucura Suburbana block parades with patients from the mental health network, their families and employees at the Nise da Silveira Municipal Institute – Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil Integration One of the main legacies of the block over two decades is to have created greater integration of users of the mental health network with the surrounding community. This is represented at the beginning of the parade, when the battery, called “A Insandecida”, leads the revelers out of the gates of the Instituto Nise da Silveira and takes to the surrounding streets. The lawyer and resident of the neighborhood, Elisabete Silveira, has participated in the block for at least 15 years and is sure that it helped to reframe the image of those who were pejoratively called “crazy”. “The block shows that people with mental health issues can have fun and can bring fun to the neighborhood. And it helps to reduce the prejudice that they are aggressive. In the block, you can see that it’s a party for everyone”, said Elisabete. For André Luiz Cabral, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, this empathy and awareness of the residents is one of the great legacies of the social movement in which the block is inserted: “The fight showed that the crazy person is not just crazy. He suffers and you have to treat the suffering. Because aggressiveness is the result of suffering.” André is a composer and for 10 years he has participated in the disputes for the choice of the main samba of the parade, having won on three occasions. For him, the title of this year’s plot could not be more representative: “Suburban Madness is the best medicine”. “The block does to me what it does to everyone else. He helps us with socialization, brings us into Carnival. For me, the party always starts with this Loucura Suburbana parade. Then, I go to the other blocks, and then, you know, right? I get lost”, he adds, laughing out loud.
Agência Brasil
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