Psychology and Psychiatry in Bernardo Santareno: observe to tell; narrating to treat

Abstract

According to the Aurélio dictionary, Psychology is part of Philosophy that deals with the soul, its manifestations and psychic phenomena. Psychiatry is presented by him as the doctrine of mental illness and its treatment. Psychology takes care of people's social and behavioral aspects. Psychiatry takes care of the physiological and chemical aspects involving the human brain. In In the seas at the end of the world (1959) and O Lugre (1959), Bernardo Santareno, a psychologist, is concerned with discovering the causes of the problems suffered by seafarers, using social, philosophical and behavioral knowledge as the main tool. Here, the individual is analyzed in the context in which he lives, with the author proposing to identify and treat psychological and behavioral changes through conversational techniques, in addition to helping to prevent them. In turn, in relation to these same works, Santareno, a psychiatrist, evaluates and treats psychological problems focusing on the organic part, through the physiological and chemical evaluation of the brain. In practice, his psychiatric concern is primarily concerned with reducing the symptoms caused by the isolation and social distance of man at sea. In 1957 and 1959, Bernardo Santareno, embarking as an on-board doctor in the Portuguese cod fleet (David Melgueiro, Senhora do Mar and Gil Eannes) who headed every year to Terra Nova and Greenland, drew up small narrative pictures that highlighted the element human surrounded by the most austere nature. Between poetic language, reflection and narrative, he used observations to narrate and narrations to deal with the maritime and life trajectory in which his characters discovered themselves real and inwardly. In turn, taking them to the stage, he unveiled the propaganda of an economic nature of the Estado Novo, reproduced in its social order.