Psychological aspects of physical illness
What? Why? How? • I. INITIAL STAGES • II.ILLNESS • III.CONVALESCENCE • IV.THE PATIENT AND HIs ENVIRONMENT • V. PATIENT-DOCTOR RELATIONSHIP
INITIAL STAGES • Delay in patient-doctor contact. • Suppression of symptoms. • Intimation of diagnosis • Reaction to diagnosis. • Admission to hospital. • Admission to an institution
ILLNESS • 1. Illness increases a person's self-love. • 2. Illness may lead to hypochondriacal tendencies and to hysterical manifestations. • 3. Illness imposes dependency. • 4. Illness initerleres with a realistic outlook on life
ILLNESS • 5. Illness meay lead to loquacity and phantasy formxation. • 6. Illness mlakes for need of affection. • 7. Illness mnobilizes aggressiveness. • 8. Illness may evoke feelings of shame. • 9. Illness affects a person's mood
CONVALESCENCE • Psychologically, convalescence has been compared with adolescence
THE PATIENT AND HIs ENVIRONMENT • The word "complaint", not only in its colloquial but also in its medical usage, signifies or implies an accusation
PATIENT-DOCTOR RELATIONSHIP • How do doctors respond to this situation? • there is the technician who places his intelligence and knowledge at his patients' disposal with no pretences, or, let us say, with very few pretences