Psychoanalysis in Brazil - Institutionalization and Dissemination among the Lay Public

Abstract

In this article I attempt to present and discuss two different periods of the dissemination of psychoanalysis in Brazil, both in the professional milieu and among the lay public. The first period, in the early 20th century, concerns the reception of Freud's ideas in the two largest Brazilian cities - Rio and São Paulo. The second period consists of the last thirty years of the century and refers to the so-called "psychoanalytic boom" that took place during the darkest years of the military dictatorship, focusing on Rio of Janeiro, where the effects were more visible. I intend to examine and discuss the specific characteristics of these two periods of propagation, trying to understand the success of the psychoanalytic "cosmological view" in the context of the Brazilian learned middle classes. I conclude the article with a few reflections on the post-psychoanalytic period we are now living.