Madness and Anchoring in the Brazilian Press: A Study in Social Representation

Abstract The Brawzilian Psychiatric Reform sought to introduce new perspectives on madness, integrating other meanings about mental health; however, it seems that mad and crazy are used in everyday communications describe social events behaviors. This study aimed investigate the main contents beliefs anchor representations of madness a printed newspaper. A Thematic Content Analysis was carried out with 846 articles from newspaper Folha de São Paulo years 1978 2018. Seven categories were constructed idea madness: Eccentric, Unpredictable, Intense, Irrational, Violent, Subversive, Transgressive. stories reinforce stigma as something divergent, strange. construction an inverse anchoring underlies demarcating distance between “normal” “crazy. It concluded is still understood based devaluation demeaning, leading exclusionary practices.