JOYCE-MONIZ, L.    BARROS, Luisa. Intervenção desenvolvimentista em psicologia da doença. []. , 22, 3, pp.487-497. ISSN 0870-8231.

The most eloquent theories of Health Psychology are related to illness. This psychology, centered on personal meanings of people who suffer from diseases, rises methodological questions much more complex than the psychology that is directed to the health promotion. In the perspective presented in this paper, the great methodological difficulties of Illness Psychology originate from the structural paradigm that orients the most common cognitive models of intervention. Here, as an alternative, the authors present a developmental model of intervention in Illness Psychology. In this model, the ill person acts in accordance with her/his personal meanings, and these can be represented by a level, that is integrated in a sequence of levels associated with suffering and coping, that are progressively more open, flexible, reversible, complex and universal, and can be characterized by the differentiating and restructuring dialectical actions most used. The identification of the person's level of meanings, and of the main dialectical operations and décalages (displacements), allow a more directed and effective formulation of intervention objectives and choice of methodologies.

: Willness psychology; development; intervention; methodology.

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