ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the psychological status and needs of hospitalized patients and alternative ways of managing them. The hospital offers many possibilities for both behavioral and more traditional intervention within its structured setting, and the health care professional needs to be familiar with the referral and consultation process. Hospital staff can meet the patient's psychological needs in five ways. They are: by encouraging emotional expression; by reinforcing behaviors that acknowledge the reality of the illness; by providing relevant information about the illness and diagnostic procedures; by building a warm, supportive relationship among patients and all staff; and by preparing the patients for the future. A benefit of psychiatric consultation is that it can facilitate recognition by health care workers involved with the patient of present and potential areas of emotional conflict. Psychologists are increasingly involved in non psychiatric medical settings. The behavioral medicine unit combines the medical model of disease and the behavioral approach to psychological symptomatology.