The Psychology of the Physically Ill Patient: A Clinician's Guide

Introduction: Psychotherapy: An Adjunct to Medical Treatment.- I. Understanding the Physically Ill Patient.- 1. Psychosocial Issues and Medical Illness.- 2. Challenges to the Self.- 3. The Interpersonal Dimension.- 4. Developmental Stages and Illness.- II. Treating the Physically Ill Patient.- 5. Psychodynamic Issues.- 6. Personality and Physical Illness.- 7. Sex and Sexuality.- 8. Suicide.- 9. Facing Death.- 10. Facing Life.- III. Practical and Philosophical Considerations: The Therapist's Role.- 11. Interpersonal/Professional Concerns.- 12. Knowing and Not Knowing.- 13. Implications of the Therapist's Own Health.- IV. Psychological Interventions: Empirical and Theoretical Approaches.- 14. Psychodynamic and Supportive Psychotherapy.- 15. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy.- 16. Group Therapy.- 17. Family Therapy.- 18. Research Methodology: A Critique.- V. Case Studies of Specific Illnesses: Psychodynamic Issues.- Case 1. From the Diary of a Thirteen-Year-Old (Asthma).- Case 2. Reemergence of the Repressed (Postpolio).- Case 3. The Lonely Road (Prostate Cancer).- Case 4. Anna's Dreams (Breast Cancer).- Case 5. The Altered Face (Facial Disfigurement).- Case 6. The Devil Inside (Seizure Disorder).- Case 7. Like a Leper (Venereal Disease).- References.