Emotional Reactions of American Soldiers to an Unfamiliar Disease

This survey indicates that patients suffering from unfamiliar diseases, of which schistosomiasis is an example, tend to develop emotional reactions which impede recovery, such as anxiety, resentment and confusion. To keep disability at a minimum, therapeutic efforts must be directed not only to overcoming the pathogenic agent but to maintaining the patient's confidence in the physician, and encouraging his expectation of return to useful activity.