This enlightening resource enables health care providers to look beyond physical symptoms to the psychosocial effects of illness on patients for improved provider-patient communication and better clinical outcomes. Readers will learn the impact of patients attitudes and behaviors in the clinical setting, emphasizing optimal diagnosis and treatment of commonly encountered conditions.This valuable resource provides: keys for understanding the psychosocial perspective across the life span and in various belief systems and cultures; basic counseling and communication techniques; self-care and stress management strategies; guidelines for effective recognition and treatment of specific patient populations including the elderly and end of life issues, chemical and behavioral additions, domestic violence, child maltreatment, mental disorders, and challenging patients requiring special handling; and insights on health care practice concerns created by social, economic, ethical and political developments.To demonstrate the importance of effective communication and sensitivity to cultural diversity, chapters include assessment interviews based on actual patient cases in a variety of practice settings. These provider-patient interviews contain both expressed and internal dialogue to clarify underlying psychosocial and behavioral issues that may affect the participants. With this unique text, readers will learn to assess and address the psychosocial needs of their patients' for improved health care and career satisfaction.