The objective of this article is to analyze the background of the historiography of psychoanalysis in Rio de Janeiro. Three different phases and approaches are analyzed, based on the viewpoints of different groups of authors. The first group features authors who displayed an early interest in the subject, in the 1920´s-1930´s. The second refers to psychiatrists/ psychoanalysts who worked with mental health institutes and societies between the 1940´s and 1970´s, while the third perspective comes from the academic/university environment, from the end of the 70´s to the present. This distinction was made not only to better define the timeframe of the arrival and dissemination of psychoanalysis in Rio de Janeiro, but also to provide a better understanding of the relation between the specific professional and intellectual interests of each group and the respective historical context.