Territory used and the privatization of mental health in the metropolitan region of natal: na analysis of therapeutic communities

Abstract

The article analyzes the uses of territory associated with public funding of Therapeutic Communities (CTs) in the Metropolitan Region of Natal (RN), taking as a reference the analytical category of used territory. The research is grounded in the problematization of the inclusion of CTs in the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS) and in the hypothesis that these institutions, although funded by the State, do not act in a complementary way to public services, but rather establish relationships of institutional competition for public funds. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative and quantitative approach, guided by dialectical reasoning and technical systems analysis. Documentary research was conducted, data from the Transparency Portal (CGU) as well as the mapping of the spatial distribution of CAPS and CTs between 2011 and 2024. The results indicate that the funded CTs, which received amounts exceeding R$ 12 million, are concentrated in municipalities that already have public mental health services, such as Extremoz and São Gonçalo do Amarante. These dynamics reinforce the territorial centralization of care and divert resources that could otherwise strengthen the public mental health care network. Therefore, it follows that this configuration reveals the consolidation of CTs as a mechanism of indirect privatization, expressing selective uses of territory consistent with the neoliberal rationality guiding the management of social policies.