[Medical-psychologic study of somatic patients]

An attitude towards the disease in patients with chronic somatic disturbances is determined by three factors: the nature of the disease, personality type and the attitude to this particular disease in the microsocial environment to which the patient belongs. Three main types of attitudes towards their disease in patients with chronic somatic disturbances are described: anxious-depressive, melancholic, obsessive-phobic, hypochondriacal, neurasthenical, dysphoric, euphoric, anozognosic, apathetic, egopathic (a fanatic preoccupation with work), sensitive, egocentric, paranoiac. These types may be mixed as well. A knowledge of the above-mentioned types is useful for psychotherapeutic approaches.