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Chronic urticaria treatment adherence

This work presents a case study of a woman who had been addressed to the psychology service, diagnosed with chronic urticaria. This woman's main complaint was that the symptoms were still present even though she was complying the treatment. The purpose was to assist the client to promote the installation of new behaviors and to generalize appropriate behavior patterns, looking for a better urticaria control. Ten sessions were carried out in the hospital, by using the Constructional approach from Behavior Analysis, through the related episode's functional analysis. Results indicated that the triggering and maintenance of the crises had multiple reasons. The contingency-analysis training accomplished during the sessions had promoted a better control of environmental factors. The patient came to comply appropriately with medication use after establishing functional relations between symptoms and environmental stressors. There was a reduction of symptoms and improvement in controlling the disease. This conclusion suggests a better understanding about the relevance of psychotherapeutic accompaniment to the adherence of medical treatment. Patient's reported an improvement in her quality of life.

treatment; construtional approach; urticaria


Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas Núcleo de Editoração SBI - Campus II, Av. John Boyd Dunlop, s/n. Prédio de Odontologia, 13060-900 Campinas - São Paulo Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 19 3343-7223 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: psychologicalstudies@puc-campinas.edu.br