Doctor–Patient Communication Publisher



Fritzsche K ; Schweickhardt A ; Diazmonsalve S ; Zanjani HA ; Goli F ; Dobos CM
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Guide for the Primary Care Setting Published:2026

Abstract

Successful doctor–patient communication is characterized by a balance between patient-centered and doctor-centered interview techniques. The most important patient-centered interview techniques are allowing the patient to finish talking, asking open-ended questions, summarizing the contents, and reflecting the patient’s emotions. Doctor-centered interview techniques include closed-ended questions, interruptions, and both transparency of contents and of the interview phases. A model of how to handle challenging and aggressive patients is presented in this chapter. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.