Physical illness cannot be effectively treated other than in the context of the psychological factors with which it is associated. The body may have the disease, but it is the patient who is ill. Research psychologists from a number of different backgrounds have, in the past few decades, turned increasingly to the study of physical illness, and there is now an extensive literature on preventive behaviors, the role of stress in the etiology of illness, the patient's reactions to illness and its treatment, and the physician-patient relationship. At the same time practicing clinical...
Physical illness cannot be effectively treated other than in the context of the psychological factors with which it is associated. The body may have t...