In this study we have tried to understand the collective health through the modes of subjectivity related to the production of symptoms.The central focal point consists in understanding the creation and maintenance of patterns of sickness/health within everyday life. We identified potential treatment options for the psychologist within the context of health. Accordingly, we identify epistemological aspects of practicing psychology based on a socio-historical concept of the subject. Therefore, drawing on the premise of symptoms as a form of language, we propose a model of psychological intervention appropriate to the national politics of mental health, highlighting strategies of action for SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde or Brazil's Universal Health Care System) on three levels of patient-health complexity: low, medium, and highly complex. Each level of psychological treatment in healthcare can be understood based on a dialectic understanding of the construction of the subject and the corresponding production of symptoms.
psychology; health; public health
