[Mental health and women's work: images and representations of nurses].

This investigation advances on the perspective of the construction of knowledge on the relation between mental health and nursing work. It is a descriptive study based on a qualitative approach and on the Social Representations Theory as well as studies on Psychopathology and Work Psychodynamics. The analysis indicated that nurses representations on the relation between mental health and nursing work are influenced by the individual and collective-organizational levels, showing these professionals as a product and producers of their personal history and of the mental health regarding the work environment, understanding them as a manifestation of the social totality.