Sofrimento e saúde mental entre migrantes venezuelanos no município de Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Venezuelan migration stands out among the main global flows of human displacement, with Brazil being one of the host countries for this population. In this process, migration and other factors can produce suffering among migrants. The heterogeneity of the sociocultural meanings of health and illness demands an exploration of the notions of suffering and mental health. This dissertation intends to explore and analyze the meanings of suffering and mental health among Venezuelan migrants. To this end, six episodic interviews were carried out with Venezuelan migrants residing in the city of Rio de Janeiro for a year or more. The experiences and narratives of the pre and post-migration phases related to suffering, mental health and care strategies were addressed. For the analysis, concepts and notions of humanitarian government, transnationality, social suffering and affliction were used. The results point to relational and social meanings of suffering, in which issues such as separation/family reunion, precariousness, labor rights, queues at commerce, grief, racism and xenophobia, nervous and stress problems, psychosomatic symptoms, medical relationship -patient are part of the experiences associated with suffering and its relief. It is concluded that the suffering among the interlocutors of this research is of a social and relational nature, producing transnational connections between Brazil and Venezuela, without being reduced to psychological individualisms. Transnational suffering, therefore, represents a descriptive category of socio-relational and multi-situated conceptions.