An approach to the psychosocial treatment of the medically ill patient

This article discusses some of the practices of psychosocial treatment. Broadly speaking, these practices include an emphasis on the doctor-patient relationship, the creation of a sound and lasting alliance, and the experience of trust and partnership that the physician fosters in helping the patient to negotiate the complex and uniquely individual experience of being ill. An argument is proposed that unless practitioners of medicine are mindful of the threats to the way they would like and are expected by their patients to practice medicine, they are unlikely to endorse changes actively or to pass the need for these changes onto the next generation of physicians. In this sense, keeping these concerns alive and the subject of ongoing discussion is crucial to the ongoing conceptualization of what it means to be a doctor.