The aim of this paper is to (re)introduce some elements to construct an alternative conception of adolescence/adolescent that goes along with the ontological and epistemological assumptions of the Critical Social Psychology and with the Theory of Social Representations. From an experience with HIV-positive adolescents in a public hospital in the South of Brazil, we shall bring to light some theoretical concerns regarding the conception of adolescence/adolescent as a universal and natural phase - a very widespread conception in Psychology. Alternatively we propose to think adolescence as a process, or as "turn out to be"- an expression that carries the meaning of "becoming", of "transforming" or yet of "metamorphosize"-, with no delimited borders that separates childhood from adolescence.
critical social psychology; social representations; adolescence; adolescent; HIV/AIDS