This article presents an overview of the history of Psychiatry field and its institutions in Brazil, with emphasis on literature produced in the last thirty-five years. It places the history of Psychiatry in the broader context of theoretical trends in historical studies - as philosophical, anthropological, social history and cultural history approaches - highlighting the most current analyzes. To achieve this goal, authors' selected doctoral theses and dissertations dedicated to mental health in Rio de Janeiro's History as well as Public Health and Psychiatry Graduate Programs. The methodological plan included attention to chronologic and geographic landmarks, types of sources used, themes and places of production as well as the theoretical frameworks that supported them. In this perspective, the article observed the range of subjects taken, the investment in different time clippings as well as in thesis that analyze events in other cities outside the axis Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.