Coping with Physical Illness

This book discusses how human beings cope with serious physical ill­ ness and injury. A conceptual model for understanding the process of coping with the crisis of illness is provided, and basic adaptive tasks and types of coping skills are identified. The major portion of the book is organized around various types of physical illness. These physical illnesses, which almost all people face either in themselves or their family members, raise common relevant coping issues. The last few sections cover "the crisis of treatment," emphasizing the importance of unusual hospital environments and radical new medical treatments, of stresses on professional staff, and of issues related to death and the fear of dying. The material highlights the fact that people can successfully cope with life crises such as major ill­ ness and inj ury, rather than the fact that severe symptoms and/or breakdowns sometimes occur. The importance of support from professional care-givers, such as physicians, nurses, and social workers, and from family, friends, and other sources of help in the community, is emphasized. Many of the selections include case examples which serve to illustrate the material. Coping with Physical Illness has been broadly conceived to meet the needs of a diverse audience. There is substantial information about how human beings cope with illness and physical disability, but this material has never been collected in one place. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Crisis of Physical Illness: An Overview....Pages 3-21 Front Matter....Pages 23-26 Chronic Grief....Pages 27-34 Maternal Reaction to the Loss of Multiple Births....Pages 35-41 Counseling Parents after the Birth of an Infant with Down’s Syndrome....Pages 43-54 Front Matter....Pages 55-58 Bearing Cancer....Pages 59-72 A Brave Family Faces Up to Breast Cancer....Pages 73-79 Family Mediation of Stress....Pages 81-96 Front Matter....Pages 97-101 Psychological Hazards of Convalescence Following Myocardial Infarction....Pages 103-112 Psychological Responses to the Experience of Open-Heart Surgery....Pages 113-133 Rehabilitating the Stroke Patient through Patient—Family Groups....Pages 135-144 Front Matter....Pages 145-147 Long-Term Adjustment and Adaptation Mechanisms in Severely Burned Adults....Pages 149-166 Adjustment Problems of the Family of the Burn Patient....Pages 167-176 Front Matter....Pages 177-181 Long-Term Physical Illness in Childhood: A Challenge to Psychosocial Adaptation....Pages 183-199 Psychological Aspects of the Care of Children with Cystic Fibrosis....Pages 201-218 Coping with a Chronic Disability: Psychosocial Observations of Girls with Scoliosis....Pages 219-232 Front Matter....Pages 233-236 The Hospital Environment: Its Impact on the Patient....Pages 237-249 Cancer, Emotions, and Nurses....Pages 251-264 Coping with Waiting: Psychiatric Intervention and Study in the Waiting Room of a Pediatric Oncology Clinic....Pages 265-279 Front Matter....Pages 281-285 The CCU Nurse Has a Pacemaker....Pages 287-293 Survival by Machine: The Psychological Stress of Chronic Hemodialysis....Pages 295-309 Front Matter....Pages 281-285 Problems in Adaptation to Maintenance Hemodialysis....Pages 311-328 Front Matter....Pages 329-333 The Vicissitudes and Vivification of Viki Vaughn....Pages 335-341 Kidney Transplantation and Coping Mechanisms....Pages 343-351 Selection of Cardiac Transplant Recipients and Their Subsequent Psychosocial Adjustment....Pages 353-366 Front Matter....Pages 367-370 Identity Problems and the Adaptation of Nurses to Severely Burned Children....Pages 371-380 The Psychological Stresses of Intensive Care Unit Nursing....Pages 381-396 Front Matter....Pages 397-401 I Don’t Intend To Die This Year....Pages 403-411 Humane Treatment of the Terminally Ill....Pages 413-419 Family Tasks and Reactions in the Crisis of Death....Pages 421-433 Back Matter....Pages 435-440 I. Overview and Perspective.- 1. The Crisis of Physical Illness: An Overview.- II. The Crisis of Illness: Stillbirth and Birth Defects.- 2. Chronic Grief.- 3. Maternal Reaction to the Loss of Multiple Births.- 4. Counseling Parents after the Birth of an Infant with Down's Syndrome.- III. The Crisis of Illness: Cancer.- 5. Bearing Cancer.- 6. A Brave Family Faces Up to Breast Cancer.- 7. Family Mediation of Stress.- IV. The Crisis of Illness: Cardiovascular Disease.- 8. Psychological Hazards of Convalescence Following Myocardial Infarction.- 9. Psychological Responses to the Experience of Open-