ABSTRACT
The primary aim of behavioral intervention is to alter patterns of behavior. Changing maladaptive lifestyles that encourage the development or enhancement of medical illness and using psychological intervention to facilitate standard medical care are two specific goals. Appropriate behaviors are to be instituted and strengthened; maladaptive behaviors are to be minimized or, if possible, eliminated altogether. It is also important to teach effective coping mechanisms to people facing medical illness. Research has shown that a person's style of coping with stress affects overall morale and somatic health more than the frequency of stress episodes (Coldfried and Goldfried, 1975; Murphy and Moriarty, 1976). Weisman and Worden (1975) have stated that cancer patients with an adequate social support system are more likely to be in good spirits and to have a better survival rate than those who are isolated. In addition to the stress inherent in medical illness, stress may be created by a person's perceived inadequacy in managing aspects of the environment to his own satisfaction or to that of significant others (Davidson and Davidson, 1980). Any perceived inadequacy may seem far worse if the illness is debilitating and reduces the patient's ability to cope. In such cases, teaching the patients new definitions of the behaviors underlying their perceptions and encouraging them to set more suitable goals for themselves is indicated.
