CONSIDERAÇÕES SOBRE A PRODUÇÃO DE SAÚDE E DE SOFRIMENTO MENTAL NAS INSTITUIÇÕES DE ENSINO SUPERIOR

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the issue of mental health in higher education institutions (HEIs) and seeks to understand and reflect on the demands of emotional distress in university students, which have been largely directed at psychology professionals. It was based on an exploratory-descriptive methodology inspired by cartography, using field diaries as tools to analyze the daily dynamics of the academic community in the face of manifestations of student emotional distress. It was found that the management of emotional distress in universities is guided by the individualizing logic of psychopathologization and medicalization of life. It investigates institutional aspects of HEIs that produce health and suffering and analyzes conjunctural aspects of the sociopolitical dimension of contemporary malaise, which has been forging subjectivities captured by neoliberal logic. It argues that the perspective of the culture of care and health promotion in universities should be integrated transversally into all university activities and structures, from the academic curriculum to administrative management and services offered to the community.