On the following pages I have attempted to emphasize the extreme necessity of consideration of the patient as an individual, a sick person, in our institutions and nursing fields of today. Where there is physical disturbance, there is usually mental disturbance, and where there is mental illness there is often physical illness. Much of the material for the foundation of this paper was gathered from literature of the medical and nursing profession, other material from association and observation. I also correlated the direct and indirect effects of environment, heredity, association and education to the patient's reactions to medical aid and his acceptance of the situation which he finds himself.Â