ANNABEL K. BROOME The importance of psychological processes in the experience of health and sickness is being increasingly recognized. There is mounting evidence for the role of personal behaviour in current trends of morbidity and mortality, which is reflected in rapid and significant developments in psychological research. Patterns of illness and death have changed in recent years, with concurrent changes in demands on health services, the skills of carers and the adjustments of the sick person. It is within this changing scene that clinical and health psychologists are becoming...