Psychosocial reactions to physical illness.

Recently medical educators have emphasized the need for physicians to acquire the skills to deal with psychologic aspects of patient care. To facilitate this task a descriptive schema is presented for use in evaluating patients' psychosocial reactions to physical illness. Three core components of such reactions are: the personal meaning of illness, emotional responses to illness and modes of coping with illness. Clinical application of this schema may help with patient management and prevent psychiatric complications of physical illness.