Accomplishing the impossible: talking about body and soul and mind during a medical visit.

This study examines the practical side of communicating about patients' thoughts, feelings, and physical health. A study of 53 medical visits suggests that biopsychosocial communication need not be as difficult or as time consuming as many practitioners believe. Biopsychosocial medical visits can be conducted in roughly the same amount of time as biomedical visits with many important advantages. This report describes 6 communication techniques used by 1 doctor to encourage talk about lifeworld issues. The techniques include self-disclosing, expressing empathy, involving patients in decision-making, talking openly about patients' fears, asking open-ended questions, and listening attentively. The doctor studied was able to use these techniques without exceeding the average length of a biomedical visit.