The no-fault flavor of disability syndromes

There are many controversial disability syndromes, representing medicolegal and social dilemmas for a variety of medical disciplines. Health care prof essionals are at a loss to cure these patients, and judges and disability r eview boards struggle to be fair while at the same time trying to understan d the basis and appropriateness of the ever-growing claims of disability. W e review these disability syndromes, examining the basis for their existenc e, their mechanism, acid how these patients can better be understood in a c onstructive and helpful manner. In doing so, we emphasize the sick role, il lness behavior, secondary and tertiary gain, and somatization. (C) 2001 Har court Publishers Ltd.