Progress in Biopsychosocial Approaches to Cancer in Northern Europe (Finland)

Saudi Patient and Companion Attitudes Toward Cancer

“…18 In our study, we saw denial manifested in many forms, i.e., patients denied being told that they had cancer; a patient read a medical report but pretended not to know about his illness to avoid causing undue psychologic stress to his illiterate father; companions knew patients had cancer but declined to answer patients' questions related to the nature of their illness; companions denied ever having been told that the patients had cancer; a companion, despite having read the pathology report indicating that the tumor biopsy showed cancer, insisted that the pathology report was wrong and that the patient did not have cancer; and finally, a patient convinced his illness was due to cancer asked his physician for confirmation, and the physician declined to confirm that the patient had cancer. Contrary to what was observed with the companions, patients who knew they had cancer did not react to it more intensely than patients unaware of the diagnosis.…”