This article discusses an evaluation of Psychosocial Treatment Centers (CAPs) in the city of Campinas, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, from the perspective of their users, through a narrative-hermeneutic study. It is seen that the CAPs are the only services with recognized therapeutic effectiveness in the lives of their users. The users report effective changes in their lives, especially in their relationships with their disorders and the construction of meanings of treatment. The participation of patients with severe mental illness in an evaluative study proved feasible, although it is still rarely used in Brazil.141122133