A critical review of the literature on the uses and meanings of the expression psychosocial in Brazilian journals opens this text. It will discuss how the Brazilian notion of "psychosocial mode" to organize mental health care, framed within the health reform movements in the 1980s, contributed to the formation of a fi eld of studies and innovative practices, developed mostly in the context of the Brazilian response to AIDS. Its human rights perspective is unknown in its details as well as its constructionist approach to health psychology defi ned as psychosocial rather than socio-psychological, distinguished also by a psychosocial approach at the various levels and territories of prevention and care practices. The techniques and work processes derived from a unique Brazilian vulnerability and human rights approach (V&HR) value the programmatic mediation of the inextricably linked social and individual vulnerability and, therefore, actions for mitigation of rights violations. Strongly inspired by hermeneutics and the social sciences constructivism, this approach to constructionist social psychology prioritize the comprehension of "inter-subjectivity in scene", understood as intrinsically related to socio-cultural scenarios -approached in programmatic encounters at health services through personal trajectory and everyday life scenes. The notion of person, taken as a subject of discourses and holder of rights, contrasts with the notion of a biological-behavioral individual of the health psychology tradition that remained active in other paradigms of health-disease processes. This article will provide references for a critical refl ection on the historical and scholarly production in the fi eld of AIDS included in this supplement.Keywords: Social Psychology, human rights, vulnerability, constructionism, health promotion.
Psicologia na Saúde: Sociopsicológica ou Psicossocial? Inovações do Campo no Contexto da Resposta Brasileira à Aids ResumoUma revisão crítica da literatura sobre os usos e o sentido do termo psicossocial em periódicos brasileiros inicia este texto. Discutirá, em seguida, como a concepção brasileira do "modo psicossocial" na atenção ao sofrimento mental, produzida no movimento pela reforma sanitária dos anos 1980, contri-1 Address: Departamento de Psicologia Social e do Trabalho, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moares, 1721, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP, Brasil 05508-900. E-mail: veroca@usp.br. We acknowledge the support of the Ford Foundation that invited us to systematize and then translate the production of over two decades that distinguishes the response to AIDS. The production of this supplement was possible as CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and Scientifi c Development) enhances my dedication to research and supported my coordination of the activities of NEPAIDS (Nucleus for the Study of AIDS Prevention at the University of São Paulo). This would not be possible without the companionship and joy at work of our colleagues in this network...