Personal communications

Although telling a patient the actual condition of the illness has become a recent trend in world medical practice, the vast majority of Japanese physicians still avoid informing a dying patient of a malignant illness. The reason for this attitude is presumably to avoid distressing the patient. However, the physician's own anxiety or fear is also a significant factor. This report explains how psycho-therapy was conducted for a Japanese patient dying of cancer who was not informed of the nature of her illness.