[The mental health care model in Brazil: a history of policy development from 1990 to 2004].

This article analyzes the underlying conditions in the development of Brazil's national policy for mental health care from 1990 to 2004, with the aim of identifying the priorities in each historical stage of the policy, based on a review and analysis of rulings and other official documents issued by the Ministry of Health during this period. Four stages in the mental health care policy are discussed, the seminal period, latency, resumption, and expansion, seeking to identify the principal policy guidelines and their correlations with the overall context of the Unified National Health System (SUS). Finally, the article provides an overview of the mental health care model developed under this policy, comparing it to the Basaglian theoretical and ideological framework, the reference adopted by the Brazilian psychiatric reform movement, and suggesting elements for reflection on the work of the National Division of Mental Health.