The Psychiatrist, the Treatment of Chronic Renal Failure, and the Prolongation of Life: II
HARRY S. ABRAM M.D.1
1 Associate professor of psychiatry, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Va. 22901
Chronic hemodialysis offers a unique opportunity to study man's adaptation to an artificial organ and to highlight some new areas in which the psychiatrist's knowledge of interpersonal relations and intrapersonal conflicts can be useful. This presentation emphasizes the phases in the patient's adaptation to dialysis and the changes in body image associated with dependence on an artificial organ. It also touches upon the role psychiatry can play in understanding man's response to the life-prolonging measures increasingly provided him by advancing medical and surgical techniques.
