Medical Crisis Counseling

Book excerpt: Nearly 15% of the US population has been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition. These patients - and their families - confront serious psychosocial challenges as they face living with a lasting medical illness. This is where medical crisis counseling (MCC) steps in. MCC is short-term intervention (1-10 sessions) that focuses on three critical, interacting areas in the patient's life: the disease, the emotional response, and the family's response. Four assumptions lie at the heart of MCC: The medical condition is the focus; medical crises are temporary and offer opportunities for learning; the adjustment issues faced by people with illness can be predicted; and people have strengths that help them identify and realize concrete goals. This book describes the MCC model and richly illustrates its therapeutic objectives and intervention techniques for each of the eight "expectable" issues of chronic illness: control, self-image, dependency, stigma, abandonment, anger, isolation, and death. Via numerous case examples, the impact of chronic illness on the patient's family members is described and methods are offered to promote better communication and adjustment around the medical problem.