Comments from patients that may stress healthy people

Overview

The article presents and analyses comments, situations and behaviour of patients that may stress a healthy listener, despite of their empathic attempts to understand the patient. These include unsuitable, tactless or incomprehensible admissions, manipulation, evocation of a guilt-complex, suicide threat, particularly within the family. Some patients simulate or dissimulate their sickness. A healthy person may find it hard to distinguish this from complaints from anxious, depressive and psychosomatic patients. The emotional state, personality and temperament of the participants also have a bearing. Unstable, borderline and psychopathic personalities may utter statements that can stress the people around them who simply do not know how to react.

Key words:
psychosomatic medicine, uncalled-for comments of patients, loss of empathy.