Psychology and Medical Communication [1. PK/PMC-DM/18]

Lectures containing actual knowledge from Medcial psychology that has been presented from academic year 2023/2024, and has been dedicated to dental medicine students of the 2nd year. Theorethical backround is linked to practical lessons, and includes topics such as communication skills, normality and pathology of personality, abnormal psychology, psychotherapy, psychology of oral habits, stress and coping strategies, or psychology of emotions and cognition.

Psychology is becoming increasingly important in people's lives. It is significant to research human behaviour and how people interact with their environment, as well as how they develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. A rising number of people have been both physically and mentally harmed in recent years as a result of cognitive, emotional, or behavioural disorders. It was determined that a study book on psychology for medical students was required.

Ružičková, Dragašek: Psychology in Medicine, Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Šafárika v Košiciach, ŠafárikPress, Košice 2023, ISBN  978-80-574-0223-7.

Lecture introduces into the field of psychology. It describes he basic approaches and its goals. The stress in on clinical psychology with description of its basic tasks – psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy used in medicine. Primary focus of clinical psychologists is the diagnosis and treatment of patients with mental and behavioural disorders. They are also dental patients, with whom a denstist has to communicate when treating them.

A lecture from psychology and medical communication focuses now on topics about stress: how you decide something is stressful, what are psychological responses to stress, how can people adapt to stress, which personality and social factors help or hinder your coping processes, and how to develop a stress management program. 

This lecture is aimed on the most often communication situations appeared between dentist and his/her patients that have to be solved during the dental treatment. It is also intended on the principles of their effective communication. The lecture contains part about situational factors influencing communication, and the last part including 9 most needed communication skills that dentists have to use in their daily practice.