For thousands of years, Western culture has dichotomized science and art, empiricism and subjective experience, and biology and psychology. In contrast with the prevailing view in philosophy, neuroscience, and literary criticism, George Engel, an internist and practicing physician, published a paper in the journal Science in 1977 entitled "The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine." In the context of clinical medicine, Engel made the deceptively simple observation that actions at the biological, psychological, and social level are dynamically interrelated and that these relationships affect both the process and outcomes of care. The biopsychosocial perspective involves an appreciation that disease and illness do not manifest themselves only in terms of pathophysiology, but also may simultaneously affect many different levels of functioning, from cellular to organ system to person to family to society. This model provides a broader understanding of disease processes as encompassing multiple levels of functioning including the effect of the physician-patient relationship. This book, which contains Engel's seminal article, looks at the continuing relevance of his work and the biopsychosocial model as it is applied to clinical practice, research, and education and administration. Contributors include: Thomas Inui, Richard Frankel, Timothy Quill, Susan McDaniel, Ronald Epstein, Peter Leroux, Diane Morse, Anthony Suchman, Geoffrey Williams, Frank Degruy, Robert Ader, Thomas CampbelL, Edward DecI, Moira Stewart, Elaine Dannefer, Edward Hundert, Lindsey Henson, Robert Smith, Kurt Fritzsche, Manfred Cierpka, Michael Wirsching, Howard Beckman, and Theodore Brown.

In the narrative of every human life and family, illness is a prominent character. Even if we have avoided serious illness ourselves, we cannot escape its reach into our circle of family and friends. Illness brings us closer to one another through caregiving and separates us through disability and death, yet little attention has been paid to personal and family illness in psychotherapy. Rather, therapists tend to focus on the psychosocial realm, leaving the biological realm to other physicians and nurses. Susan H. McDaniel, Jeri Hepworth, and William J. Doherty invited therapists who work with individuals and families experiencing chronic illness and disability to describe clinical cases that illustrate their approach to medical family therapy. Contributors then were asked to share a personal story about their experiences with illness, and to explain how those experiences affect the way they work with their clients. Vivid case studies dealing with a range of illnesses, including cancer infertility, schizophrenia, AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and multiple sclerosis, show how the therapists' own experiences of illness are relevant to their care of others-and how these experiences can be used to form a healing bond in therapy. Poignant, honest, and illuminating, "The Shared Experience of Illness" allows us to understand more fully the relationship between the personal and the professional.