Use of psychotropic drugs by teachers on psychiatric leave: a study in Goiânia

Abstract

This article focuses on unique illness dramas, reporting an investigation into the process of social medicalization/ medicamentalization with psychotropic drugs, sick leaves due to psychiatric disorders, and its relationship with school coexistence and teaching work. The research is framed by Historical-cultural psychology and Clinic of Activity. In a corpus where depressions predominate as reason for work leave, the research in 109 medical records of teachers on psychiatric leave (provided by the Municipal Medical Board of Goiânia) map the widespread use of antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs, with the most frequent use of clonazepam, fluoxetine, and sertraline, with the common consumption of psychotropic drugs in association. Despite the limitations of the researched records, it was observed that the treatment sought by teachers is mainly medical, confirming the medicalization of care, to the detriment of an integral approach to the subject in their unique illness drama. We identified signs of presenteeism and negative repercussions of the use of psychotropic drugs in school coexistence and teachers' work, disregarding an approach to the relationship between work and illness. Our conclusions confirm Whitaker's (2017) observations about the close connection between chronicity and psychotropic drug consumption, emphasizing the need to promote policies and interventions for the comprehensive health monitoring of teachers taking into consideration the multiple determinations of mental health, as well as the restoration of the role of work as an operator of health, development, and human creativity.