Physical Illness, the Individual and the Coping Processes

Growing interest in the psychological and social aspects of physical illness and disability has extended to all facets of the behavior of patients. The ways in which people cope with the stress and challenges of disease is the subject of this paper. The writer presents a tentative framework for conceptualization of this aspect of illness behavior. A brief discussion of the major determinants of coping is given. The latter include intrapersonal, disease-related and environmental variables. Coping behavior is a resultant of multiple factors reflecting a patient's specific dispositions as well as characteristics of his total situation during a given episode of illness and its different phases. The way in which the patient copes with his illness spells the difference between optimum recovery or psychological invalidism. It is the doctor's task to recognize his patient's mode of coping and help him employ the most adaptive and effective coping strategies.