[How to tell a patient the truth?--a case report from a psycho-oncology outpatient clinic].

Depression and anxiety are common psychiatric syndromes in the cancer population, but are not always managed very well due to the barriers to psychiatric consultation in Japan. We have tried to care for cancer patients with depression or anxiety through our psycho-oncology outpatient clinic. We have found that some anxiety in cancer patients derives from miscommunications between patients and physicians in charge because physicians do not tell the conditions of diseases clearly to patients. Needless to say, physicians should learn the communication skills regarding breaking bad news but we would like to emphasize the importance of smooth communication among health care professionals through this case report which makes us reconsider how we should have told the patient the truth (the time for stopping anti-cancer treatment, prognosis and so on) to a patient.