Overview The medical equivalent of war is the care of the difficult patient. Doctors soldier steadily on through all kinds of clinical chores, arduous schedules, and “administrivia,” but when they get to the types of patients variously called “obnoxious,” “needy,”…
Management of psychiatric illness in medically ill individuals requires knowledge of medicine and psychiatry as well as specialized psychotherapeutic techniques. In inpatient settings, challenges to compassionate psychological care are abundant (e.g., decreasing length of stays, severe medical and surgical illnesses,…
Key Points Epidemiology Personality has evolved to guide both social and interpersonal function. Use of dimensional diagnostic systems improves reliability and descriptive breadth. Clinical Findings Normal personality traits and DSM-5 personality disorders share many features. Treatment Options Empirical findings indicate…
Key Points Short-term therapies typically last 12 to 36 sessions and focus on a single problem or symptom (called the focus or sector) by actively excluding less pivotal issues. Brief therapies differ from each other in how the focus is…
Key Points Physicians are constantly appraising the coping styles of their patients, and these appraisals dictate both diagnosis and treatment. Though there are multiple definitions of coping, coping with chronic illness is best defined as the behavioral style that patients…