Making the Patient Your Partner: Communication Skills for Doctors and Other Caregivers

From our regular book review column.

When I first began reading this book, my thoughts turned to two topics: (1) Abigail and Brittany Hensel, the twins lately in the news, and (2) the first talk that I gave as a medical student, in 1983. Entitled "Communicating and Counseling," my talk to other medical students would have benefited from this book. Neither my talk nor this book would be necessary if caregivers intuitively knew how to relate ideally to patients, as the twins somehow relate effectively to each other, with their two distinct identities sharing essentially a single body.