ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the early stages of illness, that is, on the ways in which individuals interpret the origin and significance of symptoms that make them feel unwell. It shows how individuals understand or appraise their symptoms and discusses a key concepts and a common sense model suggests that people appraise symptoms rationally. Early symptom appraisals are likely to construct a cognitive representation, in terms of which perceptions are organised. Appraisals may not be possible for people who are rapidly overcome by extremely severe or incapacitating symptoms and a pathway for these is represented by the fast track exit of the model. In addition to symptom information and a disease label, other key elements in illness schemata are thought to hold information about cause(s), prevalence, and the typical victim. The chapter examines interpersonal influences on symptom appraisals and provides some suggestions for a more social social psychological model of symptom appraisals.
