Difficult patients - and difficult physicians

Difficult patients - and difficult physicians: "Webster's dictionary defines difficult as 'hard to manage or deal with.' The medical literature, in discussing difficult patients, has attempted to categorize such persons, whom British authors refer to as 'heartsink' patients. This chapter will briefly review this literature, discussing difficult patients in general, and then looking specifically at three types of difficult patients: (1) those who are manipulative; (2) those who have multiple somatic complaints; (3) those who are addicted to anxiolytics or painkillers. Although I will describe the relationships of these patients with physicians, the discussion applies to all health care providers."