The objective was to understand, based on the narratives of students from an undergraduate psychology course, the social representation regarding the mental health and illness process. This is narrative research carried out at a public university in Bahia. Data collection took place online, using an electronic form made available in 2021, for data analysis dialectical hermeneutics was used. 34 students participated in the study. The results were presented in two empirical categories: biomedical model in the mental health and illness process and social determinants model in the mental health and illness process. The students narrated their social representation about the mental health and illness process, both from a perspective that favors the biomedical model and based on the psychosocial care model. Considering the analysis carried out, there is an urgent need for undergraduate courses in Psychology and other courses in the health field to review their curricula in order to meet the precepts of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, making use of mandatory and optional components with active methodologies of teaching-learning that address the topic, thus aiming to resolve stigmatized conceptions in the field of mental health and prepare professionals who base their work on the precepts of psychosocial care.
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