Introduction

Social factors pose singularly intriguing problems in the field of mental health and preventive medicine and encompass a wide variety of subjects. Studies in this issue range from the utilization of the hospital milieu to treat psychiatrically ill patients to the techniques a physician must employ in adapting himself to an unfamiliar culture, from the effects of culture on the etiology of tuberculosis to the effects of group membership on the formation of attitudes. Nevertheless, it would appear even to the casual observer that a unifying concept is present. We are dealing with the importance of the relationships between the patient, the physician, and the community. The area of abutment of each of the articles presented in this special issue of Human Organization is the area of behavior and its significance in health and disease.