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Behavioral Pediatrics pp 204–216Cite as

The Behavioral Aspects of Chronic Illness

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Abstract

Chronic illness in children is a condition that has been with us for millenia. Hippocrates in ancient Greece described such chronic illnesses as asthma and seizure disorders as did Galen in Rome.1 Chronic illness and deforming conditions have been depicted by the Incas of Peru in their figures of deformed individuals.2 Chronic illness has also been discussed by 17th and 18th century physicians in the New World1,3 and poignantly described in the character of Paul Dombey in Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens.4 as well as in his other works. The reality, for those times, was that most children with birth defects and chronic illness died at an early age. Medicine in the 20th century has altered that reality considerably. Many of the infectious diseases that took an enormous toll on children have been brought under control with the advent of immunizations and the use of antibiotics and more effective ways of supporting sick infants and children. The advent of sophisticated, effective, and safe surgery and anesthesia has resulted in the survival of patients who would not have survived 50 years ago. The last 10 to 20 years have brought even more striking technical advances with the result that more and more infants are surviving into childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Children with malignancies are surviving where they had not in the past, which is also the case for children with birth defects and other debilitating illnesse.5,6

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Authors
  1. Edward Goldson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Michigan State University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49001, USA

    Donald E. Greydanus

  2. Child Development Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37232-3573, USA

    Mark L. Wolraich

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Goldson, E. (1992). The Behavioral Aspects of Chronic Illness. In: Greydanus, D.E., Wolraich, M.L. (eds) Behavioral Pediatrics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2774-8_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2774-8_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7663-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2774-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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