摘要：This work aims to discuss mental health from a multidimensional perspective which uses the identification of history, rhythms and particularities of the territories, conducting situational analysis of social and health needs of a population, linked to living conditions, in order to contextualize the process health-illness care. When it comes to rural areas, conditions of vulnerability related to poverty worsen. Socioeconomic indicators show that settlements in the Brazilian Northeast still presents alarming data: Considerable rates of illiteracy, food insecurity and child mortality by today's standards; difficulty in access to public services; poor work conditions and greater reliance on income transfer programs. That means that in the Brazilian countryside there are a complexity of factors and combinations of socioeconomic and environmental risks that produce distress that directly affects mental health..
