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.

Primary care physicians have a unique, long-term relationship with their patients. The nature of this relationship places primary care physicians in the position of managing both the physical and psychological response to serious illness. The Psychological Impact of Acute and Chronic Illness is specifically designed to help the primary care physician navigate normative and maladaptive reactions to illness. Physicians will learn how to identify coping responses in medically ill individuals, as well as proven strategies for intervention and pharmacological treatment of patients presenting with mental illness. Chapters are concise but comprehensive and emphasize the basics, from aspects of the illness process to knowing when to refer patients to mental health providers. Case examples throughout the book illustrate important concepts and techniques that enable the reader to maximize coping in patients and their families.