Psychological Impact of Acute & Chronic Illness

This book helps the primary care physician navigate the normative and non-normative psychological responses to illness, and it provides suggestions for how to maximize coping and gives guidance on when the physician may want to consider asking for outside help. Chapters are concise but comprehensive and emphasize the basics, including responses to serious and potentially life-threatening illness, normal and maladaptive coping responses in medically ill individuals, and specific aspects of the illness process. Several case examples are used throughout to illustrate the concepts discussed. One chapter is specifically devoted to psychotropic medications, and a separate chapter discusses the special circumstances of non-compliant patients. The book concludes with chapters on family situations and offers recommendations on when to refer a patient to a mental health provider who specializes in treating the medically ill patient.