Psychological and Behavioral Aspects of Physical Disability

A relationship between the disciplines of psychology and medicine is evident in writings from the beginnings of recorded history. This inter­ action was characterized in some epochs by mutual interest and support, only to be followed by periods of relative disinterest. During the past century there have been several formal attempts to acknowledge this interdependence and to revive and codify on a more permanent basis the working relationships between practitioners and scientists from both psychology and medicine. These twentieth-century waves of interest, which have also come and gone, have been identified by such names as psychosomatic medicine and rehabilitation psychology. For a variety of reasons, notably the lack of a sufficient knowledge base in either disci­ pline, the desired partnership has not come to full flower. This state of affairs seems to be changing as we enter the last two decades of the twentieth century. In the American Psychologist in September, 1980, I reviewed recent developments in psychology and in medicine and in federal and private funding patterns, which give evidence of revitalizing this partnership between these two disciplines and their relevant subspecialties. For ex­ ample, after six decades of spectacular biomedical scientific advances which have all but eradicated such life-threatening diseases as polio­ myelitis and tuberculosis, leaders in medicine, the behavioral sciences, and other segments of society reached a consensus during the 1970s that the behavior of the individual is one of today's unexplored frontiers for modern medical practice and related good health care.