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The Difficult Patient

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. Y. Ekdawi
M. Y. Ekdawi*
Affiliation:
Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, Surrey
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Extract

It is usual to encounter, in any large mental hospital, a group of patients who are considered by the staff to be difficult. This opinion is slowly formed, but, once established and repeatedly expressed in nursing reports and medical records, it rarely alters and may have a powerful influence on the patient's career in hospital. A difficult patient may find himself deprived of privileges and moved to a “lower level” ward (9, 10, 11) and his demotion in this way can affect his relatives' attitudes towards him (17). On the other hand, patients informally classified by the staff as “good patients” may be granted certain advantages and, as Cohen put it, “if they behave okay, they move to a better billet” (5).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 113 , Issue 498 , May 1967 , pp. 547 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1967 

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