Psychological Impact of Acute and Chronic Illness: A Practical Guide for Primary Care Physicians (20

This book helps the primary care physician navigate the normative and non-normative psychological responses to illness, provides suggestions for how to maximize coping and offers guidance on when the physician should consider asking for outside help. The 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 another 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.