Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), through the Postgraduate Program in Social Sciences (PPGCS), will hold the lecture “Neoliberalimso and Psychiatrization of Society” on April 17, 2026. The activity takes place at 9:30 am, in the auditorium of the Zila Mamede Central Library (BCZM), and is open to the academic community.
The lecture will be given by the psychoanalyst, doctor in clinical psychology and professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Prof. Dr. Luciano da Fonseca Elia. The meeting addresses current discussions between psychoanalysts and social science scholars, related to the increase in psychiatric diagnoses today.
According to the event's proposal, the mediatization of so-called mental disorders has generated questions about excess and possible diagnostic trivialization as a neoliberal phenomenon, associated with market interests. The debate also considers neoliberalism as a way of managing people and their suffering, raising the hypothesis that everyday situations are being treated as disorders, expanding a pathological discourse in ordinary life and contributing to the increase in medication consumption.
Thesis defense
On the same date, the program also defends a thesis entitled “ADHD, THE UNCONFESSED DISORDER OF NEOLIBERALISM”, by student Roberta Luna da Costa Freire Russo. The activity takes place at 2pm, in Auditorium C of the Center for Human Sciences, Letters and Arts (CCHLA).
The research is guided by Prof. Dr. Maria Lúcia Bastos Alves and is part of the academic activities of PPGCS/UFRN.