Psychological Treatment of Chronic Illness: A Biopsychosocial Therapy Approach

Chronic disease statistics are daunting: 75% of adults over age 65, 70% of all death, 50% of Americans constantly experience chronic disease symptoms, and prevalence rates of chronic disease that are more than three times higher than mental illness. It is also daunting to imagine the practice of psychotherapy in which many, if not most, clients who present with obvious psychological issues are also experiencing a chronic medical illness. That means that whether psychologists and other psychotherapist specialize in the treatment of chronic illness, or provide conventional psychotherapeutic services, they will working with clients with chronic illness. Unfortunately, health care professionals seem to have little to offer those who suffer from chronic diseases, as witnessed by increasing patient dissatisfaction with conventional medicine. Fortunately, because of their psychological training, psychologists and other psychotherapists are well positioned to respond to this major health care challenge. However, to provide effective and appropriate treatment to such patients or clients will require that psychotherapists augment their psychological perspective and conventional psychotherapeutic strategies with a biopsychosocial perspective and biopsychosocially-oriented treatment strategies. This book emphasizes the biopsychosocial perspective and describes a biopsychosocially-oriented treatment approach known as Biopsychosocial Therapy. Psychotherapy with Chronic Illness is unique in its focus on the experience of chronic illness from both the patient's and the provider's perspective. It emphasizes the need for a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment, case conceptualization and treatment plan. It also stresses the clinical value of tailoring the treatment process and sequencing treatment interventions to personality dynamics, family and cultural dynamics, and health dynamics including illness representation or explanatory model and pha