Sections
Psychiatric Aspects of Chronic Physical Disorders: Introduction | Psychological Adjustment | Comorbidity of Medical and Psychiatric Conditions: Somatopsychic
and Psychosomatic Relationships | Categorical and Noncategorical Approaches | General Considerations in Psychiatric Management | Psychosocial Interventions With Specific Disorders: Empirical
Support | Research Directions | Summary Points | References
Excerpt
Approximately 10–20 million children
in the United States experience a medical condition that requires
periodic intervention (Wallander et al. 2003). For
most of these children, the condition is mild and requires routine,
periodic intervention, but approximately 10% of these children
and adolescents have conditions that affect them nearly every day
(Wallander et al. 2003). Advances in medicine have
improved survival to such an extent that nearly 90% of
children whose conditions were at one time considered terminal are
now living into adulthood (Thompson and Gustafson 1996). While
some of these individuals will experience a full recovery, the number
of people who must live with a chronic condition will continue to
increase.