The need to train health professionals in communication skills is now widely recognised. Good doctor/patient interaction has a positive effect on recovery from illness, reducing patients' anxiety, improving compliance with treatment, and removing common causes of complaint. Developing Communication and Counselling Skills in Medicine is written with a predominantly practical and skills learning approach specifically for medical students. Roslyn Corney offers guidance to health professionals on how to deal with patients effectively and sympathetically. The emphasis is on how the reader can acquire knowledge and on guiding the development of skills by the use of case examples. As well as chapters discussing the general issues and basis of the approach, there are chapters dealing with the more difficult situations in which medical professionals find themselves - breaking bad news, dealing with complaints, supporting the distressed, or interviewing angry or aggressive patients. Roselyn Corney also includes a chapter on the importance of a self-support system for the clinician and an index of organizations which can offer further help to patients. This book should be of interest to medical students, nurses and health professionals.