Doctor João G. Pereira represented the Romão de Sousa Foundation at the XVII Annual Course of Schizophrenia – Inner Dialogue, Hallucinations, and Therapeutic Strategies – in Madrid where he presented the poster Casa de Alba – A New Therapeutic Community for Severe Mental Health Problems in Rural Portugal. This course focused on the importance of working towards the humanization of mental health services. In spite of the long distance separating the asylums from the institutions of nowadays there are exceptions and a considerable part of these services still work as a means of social control giving therefore little contribution to the recovery and the social integration of its users. Overmedication, the dominance of medical models (as Professor John Watkins mentioned bio-bio-bio models instead of bio-psycho-social models), the excessive power of the professionals over the users and, the hierarchization of the services contribute to hinder the development of the mental health services.
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