Occupational psychiatry involves the merger of knowledge from two medical fields and their areas of activity, namely, occupational medicine and psychiatry. Occupational psychiatry is dedicated to understanding and planning interventions in the work environment and in organizations, aiming to analyze the interaction of the multiple dimensions that characterize people, groups and organizations, with the purpose of building strategies and procedures that promote, preserve and reestablish the welfare. Medical studies in this specific area and about its importance are limited, despite the growing interest in the topic of mental health and work. Data collection was carried out in a non-systematic way. Articles were searched using free-access electronic databases (SciELO, BVS, CAPES, and LILACS), focusing on publications from the latest 70 years, i.e., between 1950 and 2020. The following descriptors were used: labor psychiatry, occupational psychiatry, occupational psychiatry and industrial psychiatry. The inclusion criteria were: articles that addressed the descriptors selected, that were published in the last 70 years, and that were available free of charge in whole or in part. The database was supplemented with materials recommended by specialists in the subject. There is a scarcity of medical studies on the field of occupational psychiatry designed to demonstrate its relevance, and little emphasis isplaced on the organizati onal and governmental levels, despite the importance of this area to improve our understanding of psychosocial risks and allow us to map them and treat them in an appropriate way, thus aiming not only for the individual mental well-being, but also for the collecti ve well-being.