PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF ILLNESS AND SELF MEASURE (PRISM) - A SIMPLE VISUALIZATION METHOD FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Communication between physician and patient has a deciding influence o n the course of treatment in physical and psychological disorders. An understanding of the patient's own subjectively experienced suffering is of great importance, particularly in somatoform disorders, i.e., th ose in which no organic causes can be found for the patient's somatic complaints. We introduce here the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM), a new visual method for eliciting and easing communication about subjective 'Leidensdruck', the burden of sufferin g due to illness. Initial empirical results gained by using this metho d with a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis are presented. Al so presented is the theoretical background of the visualisation method . A case report of a patient with somatoform disorder is presented to illustrate the clinical use of PRISM. The possibilities and limitation s of this method are discussed.