title: Informing cancer patient based on his type of personality: the uninvolved - aloof patient.
abstract: Communicating bad news is often part of a doctor's task. By bad news we mean information which is received as unpleasant by the patient who feels that it can have an unwanted effect in his life. It appears that the way each patient assesses bad news is associated with his personality type, his individual character traits and the adoption of an empathic approach is vital within a therapeutic relationship. The aim of this article was to describe the uninvolved-aloof character or type of personality thoroughly so that any therapist can make a diagnosis and tailor the information strategy to the patient's needs. As method of research was used the qualitative method through groups with doctors and nurses, while research within groups lasted for 5 years. Assessing the denial mechanism may present the hardest task since the patient does not give any hint to the doctor as to how he feels. The degree of informing should be not as much as for the controlling-orderly person but more than the dependent person's, about "average" to "small". Informing Family: He accepts the family's involvement. Relatives need to be alerted about the patient's fragility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, School of Health, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kallergis
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations