title: Informing cancer patient based on his type of personality:The self-sacrificing patient.
abstract: Imparting the bad news has become a hard task for the doctor, and is usually perceived as unpleasant by the patient to whom the bad news is revealed. It is vital that the physician's approach be tailored to the cancer patient's personality. Gathering by the informing process protocols already suggested the hardest step for the doctors to take is empathic understanding which, presupposes tailoring to the individual's needs. The aim of this article was to describe the self-sacrificing type of personality thoroughly, so that any physician can make a diagnosis and tailor the information strategy to their 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 is hard for a person that regards disease as punishment and propitiation. The physician must mobilize his countertransference, the sense he gets from the discussions with the patient and their overall communication. If he finds that the patient has self-control, then the approach of imparting the news resembles that of the controlling-orderly personality. If he ascertains that the patient has a lasting embarrassment, he should be more careful and impart the news gradually, his approach resembling that of the dependent person.
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 / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014342:Truth Disclosure