CHRONIC ILLNESS IN CHILDHOOD - DEVELOPMEN T OF A TYPOLOGY AND CORRELATED SPECIFIC FORMS OF PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS

A typology of chronic illness in childhood and adolescence is develope d. Type I represents diseases with a progressive-lethal course. Here, the key psychological approach consists of family counselling in order to maintain life quality and to support the ongoing family adaptation process. Type II refers to diseases with a continuous course with acu te exacerbating but medically controllable symptoms (e.g. asthma, diab etes mellitus). Correspond ing key interventions are patient education and behavioral training with the focus on an improved, self-responsib le disease management. Type III comprises recurrent diseases with pote ntial psychophysiological correlates (e. g. pain syndromes) which may require a functional behavioral analysis for diagnostic reasons, and t he various strategies of behavioral medicine for therapeutical reasons .