But a simple topology of person may be useful in understanding the relation between suffering and the goals of medicine. The features identified should also apply to ourselves and thus be confirmable on the basis of our own life experiences. They should also point the way to further study and to the possibility of specific action by individual physicians. Persons have personality and character. All parents know that personality traits appear within the first few weeks to months of life and are remarkably durable over time.
Some personalities handle some illnesses better than others.
What may be destructive for one person is easily tolerated by another, but some stresses that may accompany illness, such as loss of control, are universally difficult to bear. Individuals vary in character as well as personality. During the heyday of psychoanalysis in the 1950s, all behavior was attributed to unconscious determinants laid down early in life. Fortunately, such a simplistic view of human character is passing from popularity. Some are good, kind, and tolerant under the stress of terminal illness, while others become mean and strike out when even mildly ill.