Psychological interactions for women with breast disease

Abstract

At the outset, the concept of team care was suggested not as a panacea but perhaps as a better approach to acquiring help in areas of expertise not held by the physician. There are tools to help ascertain psychosocial information from patients, and there are agencies that would be willing to conduct psychosocial work-ups for physicians and teach these significant psychosocial concepts. There are many innovative and creative group practices that now employ their own behavioral personnel to assist in a humanistic evaluation of the patient. Recently, Boyd demonstrated through her research projects how one might want to consider approaching women with patient education and treatment of breast disease. The inventory she uses to ascertain both mental and physical characteristics that might place a woman at risk for breast disease is superb and highly recommended. Another paradigm to consider would be Bartlett's "Behavioral Diagnosis," a practical approach to patient education. These are but two of countless others one might want to consider. And finally, the "Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations" can also be a very useful tool. This is only a cursory view of the complexities one encounters when attempting to understand women, how and why they behave the way they do, how they respond to the health care system, what some of their influences are, and what we must all do together to help them help themselves and us, to provide them with a longer, more productive, rewarding and healthy life span. We have addressed patient education and how physicians might want to embark upon a sound enlightenment program for their patients by enhancing their communication skills and paying strict attention to the patient's psychosocial history as well as their own psychosocial orientation.